Trine
by Daenerys Starcatcher
Summary: What /does/ it mean to be a Seeker? This story looks into that, as well as my headcanon on Seeker-kin. Bits of history regarding the beginning of the war, as well as a look into the Command Trine and their hopes, dreams, and ambitions. Rated M for future chapters, and will contain slash. Read and review if you would!
1. Chapter 1

_A new plot bunny grabbed me, and this is the result. I am unsure as to how many chapters this is going to have, but I do hope you guys like it._

_Warnings: Light slash, violence._

_Pairings: None really, not yet._

_Disclaimer: I only wish that I owned the Seekers..._

* * *

The sonic boom shattered the air just a bit too late.

Skywarp felt it an instant before it hit- burning pain across his sensornet, lines cut and cauterized in the same instant by enemy laser fire. He let out a shriek on both the Seekers' commlink and the trine bond, his pain following along despite his attempt to stifle it. His wings would no longer support his weight, several large, leaking holes in the wide black panels, and he began to lose altitude at a shocking rate. He tried to access his warp gate and found that energon loss had taken that option away from him, and all went dark as he crashed into the side of the cliff, a smoking, ruined heap of metal.

A cheer rang on the Autobot side- it wasn't every day that one of the elite trine was grounded, much less taken /_that_/ completely out of the action. Thundercracker heard the ragged cry and a wave of anger clouded his processor- didn't they realize that Skywarp was one of those sentient beings that they professed freedom for?

The rules never had been the same if one wore a purple sigil, and they never would be.

The blue Seeker shot through the sky, following the trail of smoke and scorched metal, ignoring the questions from his allies. Starscream already knew why he'd broken formation, and had already given his approval whether Megatron liked it or not.

Trine first, faction second. It was never talked about but that's the way it was. Most didn't know, couldn't guess. They thought that Starscream only tolerated his wingmates for the sake of battle prowess. They didn't know that they were a bonded trine, closer than brothers, more than lovers. It was what they were, just as much a part of them as their wings and their optics and their sparks. The other Seekers knew it, but their loyalty to their Winglord superseded the loyalty to the Decepticons and even the loyalty to their commander.

There were so few Seekers left, after all, and those that remained were precious.

Thundercracker landed, his spark breaking at the image of his brother-mate-third lying in a pool of his own fluids, blissfully unconscious. He kept his expression carefully neutral, though, and moved to pick him up ever so gently, not wishing to exacerbate his injuries. Unconsciously, he chirred a dual-toned sound that was older than most of the mechs that fought in this world- it seemed to soothe the unconscious Seeker, and so Thundercracker repeated it.

The high-pitched whine of a laser rifle broke into his reverie, and that was the only warning he received before intense pain washed over his wings, the shot disconnecting motor relays and causing him to land on top of his already injured wingmate.

Sunstreaker grinned ferally and commed Prowl. _/Two out of three ain't bad. I have two very injured Seekers at my position. They may even still be alive, though for how long, I couldn't say. Happy sparkday, Prowl./_

/_Spare me your flippancy. Guard the prisoners; I shall send transport as soon as possible. Prowl out./_

Starscream felt the shot as it happened, and he let out a pained shriek, quickly stifled so that Megatron didn't realize exactly what had happened. It simply wouldn't do to have him suspect the extent of the trine bond; that mech would use anything and everything to gain leverage, even over his own people. The silver tyrant whipped his helm around to glare at his SIC, and Starscream returned the glare full-force, daring him to speak.

"What causes you to make more of those irritating sounds, Starscream?"

"Why, my Lord, I was merely making an audible observation on how much of a failure this plan has turned out to be. Why, if I led the Decepticons-"

Starscream was interrupted by a backhand slap to the face. That actually /_helped_/ the Seeker; it distracted him somewhat from his trinemates' pain and especially Thundercracker's anger. That didn't mean that he hated Megatron any less for it; Starscream loathed Megatron, and for more reasons than just the physical punishment.

Thundercracker was still conscious; Starscream could feel him. He sent a wordless pulse of reassurance, and it was answered with a pain-soaked wave of apprehension mixed with thanks.

_/I'll get you out, somehow./_ Starscream promised.

_/Know that, Scree. Warp's bad off./_ Thundercracker replied slowly.

_/He's alive, Thunder. He'll be okay. Watch over him. Don't let them separate you./_

_/Won't if I can't help it. Love you. Can't talk anymore- hurts. Gonna rest./_ Thundercracker's mental tone sounded strained.

/_Stay awake, Thunder. Don't you leave me./_

"Are you paying attention, Starscream, or shall I remind you that ignoring me has its price?" The unlovely tones of the Slagmaker broke into Starscream's conversation, and he sent Thundercracker another wave of comfort through their bond even as he scowled nastily at Megatron.

"I was /_consulting_/ with my aerial units, /_Lord_/ Megatron." The way that Starscream emphasized 'Lord" made it into an insult rather than a term of respect. "Thundercracker and Skywarp have been taken by the Autoscum."

Megatron glowered. "Useless. Elite trine. Elite screwups, perhaps. And your team at that, Starscream. What does that say about your leadership potential?" The glower twisted into a nasty little smile that made Starscream want to shove his null ray right up Megatron's aft and shoot a dozen times.

_It /means/ that Thunder went to save our mate, you overbearing aftheaded glitch_. Starscream thought spitefully. What he said was completely different. "I assume that those disgusting twins managed to get ahold of Skywarp and run him into a cliff again." His tone was properly disdainful. "My trinemate is an idiot. As for Thundercracker, he may have went looking for him. I don't /_know_/. I was stuck here instead of flying with my aerial team. That /_is_/ what my function is /_supposed_/ to be, though you mistake me for your punching bag." Starscream smirked at his commander.

Unsurprisingly, he received another clout upside his helm. "Idiot."

Starscream kept his vocaliser mute for the moment, trying to think of a way to rationalize dealing for his trinemates. Of course, he could wait until they repaired Skywarp- the Autobots were usually too soft-sparked to leave even an enemy unrepaired, and once Skywarp was functional, he could simply warp Thundercracker and himself out of their base.

That is, if his warp gate hadn't been damaged in the crash. That was always a worry, and Skywarp couldn't tell Starscream a thing yet. He was still unconscious.

* * *

Thundercracker onlined in medbay just as Ratchet began cursing over his trinemate. He onlined his optics slowly, almost as if trying to hide it, but the berth he was on alerted the medic anyway. The red and white medbot glanced over at Thundercracker as if /_daring_/ him to get up and move, and TC shook his head slightly, indicating his acquiescence. Skywarp was obviously in stasis, optics dark, his infrastructure dinged and dented from the crash. It almost hurt the blue Seeker to look at him, but he wasn't willing to look away for too long, not when they were in enemy territory.

He'd tear the medic's /_hands_/ off if he tried to hurt Warp, and his gaze spoke the threat as eloquently as if he'd shouted it. Ratchet, of course, ignored it and continued working, his fingertips deftly repairing the large holes that pierced his trinemate's wings. The sparking and leaking had stopped, at least, and to Thundercracker's mostly untrained optics Skywarp even /_looked_/ a bit better than he had. He privately swore revenge on that damned yellow psychopath who'd backshot him- some Autobot to do /_that_/. His lip curled at the thought, and that's when his tanks began to rumble audibly.

Ratchet stopped what he was doing, wiped the fluids from his hands, and went to a dispenser that was embedded on the wall. Shortly thereafter, Thundercracker was handed a cube of shimmering energon.

"Medical-grade. You need it after the laser shot." Ratchet said gruffly, turning away to finish his work on Skywarp. Thundercracker gave the medic an inscrutable look before taking his first sip of the fuel. It was good, a lot better than they had most of the time on the Nemesis, and he allowed himself to enjoy the rich flavor, such a simple pleasure in the midst of the enemy base. He hoped that Skywarp would have a chance to have some of this as well- that he would be okay.

Their trine bond was wide open but distance attenuated Starscream's presence, only giving Thundercracker a very faint awareness of his trineleader's emotional state. He was agitated, but /_that_/ was nothing new, and in slight pain. Thundercracker frowned at that and did his best to send reassurance through the bond. It was likely that Megatron had blamed him for his trinemates' failure. It wouldn't be the first time, nor likely the last.

Sometimes his Supreme Commander was an idiot, Thundercracker reflected. On second thought, a /_lot_/ of the time he was an idiot. The only one who reliably stood up to Megatron was Starscream, though, and he certainly paid for it each time he did. There were as many rumors as to why Starscream continually challenged their leader as there were mechs on board, but the only ones who knew the truth were Starscream himself, Skywarp (who didn't usually care), and Thundercracker. The animosity went back further than most would expect, all the way back to the beginnings of the war. Back when Vos was its own nation, before it had been melted into slag by its enemies in a cowardly attack that had turned its beautiful spires into nothing more than dust and shattered memories of what once stood.

Thundercracker wondered, and not it wasn't the first time, if Megatron had had something to do with Vos' destruction. It had been no secret that he had wanted the Seekers to fight for him; the aerial support had tipped things in his favor, just as he'd expected. Starscream had repeatedly declined the alliance, citing many reasons, but the main one was that Starscream wanted Vos to remain neutral in this silly series of battles; most of the problems that plagued Cybertron were not an issue in Vos.

Megatron didn't understand this desire to stay out of it, and had attempted to court Starscream's favor, some said in more ways than one.

It wasn't until his city was reduced to nearly nothing, eighty percent of the population deactivated or dying, that he finally accepted Megatron's alliance. He wanted revenge on those who'd taken what he loved most from him. At the time, his trinemates had even agreed- Megatron's army was strong, and adding the aerial mastery of the Seekers could only make it stronger.

It quickly became apparent that Megatron had had no intention of keeping his agreement with Starscream to allow him putative control over the air force; he was Air Commander in name only. He hadn't counted on the Seekers' own culture, though, not understanding it or not caring to. They had sworn their allegiance to the Decepticons, yes, but their first loyalty was to their Winglord and their people. Megatron was /_still_/ unaware of this fact so many millions of years later, and that's the way the Seekers wanted it, even those as loyal as Skywarp was.

It was a testament to the solidarity of their kind that their little deception had continued to last this long.

Thundercracker stopped reflecting on the past, his cube surprisingly empty, to focus his gaze on Skywarp again. Ratchet was /_good_/; he supposed that was why the medic had a capture, not kill directive on him and had since the early days of conflict. Skywarp's wings were patched, the weld lines painted in nanite-rich sealant that would speed healing, and Ratchet had even begun to buff out the worst of the scratches. Thundercracker's gaze softened just a little.

"You do good work." he said, dispersing the cube Ratchet had given him with a simple gesture. Ratchet glanced up from Skywarp's left wing and merely grunted at the Seeker, turning back to his work before answering.

"You may be our enemies but I'll be slagged twice before I let you walk around in pieces." Ratchet said, not looking at the blue flier.

"That is a lot more than the Decepticons would do if the situation were reversed." Thundercracker replied.

Ratchet looked up and gave the Seeker a piercing stare. "Is there any reason why you refer to your faction in that way, instead of just saying 'we'?"

Thundercracker returned the look and allowed his lips to twist into an odd sort of smile. He stood, his joints creaking somewhat due to inactivity, and walked over to where the medic was still working on Skywarp. He put one hand on his trinemate's arm, squeezing it familiarly. Ratchet stilled, almost as if expecting an attack of some sort, yet relaxed a moment later. By his movements it was apparent that he was choosing to trust Thundercracker not to do anything stupid.

Of course, he had a wrench on standby just in case. Ratchet wasn't /_stupid_/, after all.

Thundercracker remained silent, just standing next to Skywarp, allowing his EM field to wrap around the injured flier. He couldn't tell if it was helping Skywarp, but he knew that it was helping him so he continued. Seekers needed physical contact, a fact that had been twisted to infer that Seekers had an interface drive that never stopped.

"He'll be ready to be moved in a couple joor." Ratchet told Thundercracker. "I'm sure they'll have a cell ready for you two." Thundercracker couldn't stop the scowl at that; enclosed spaces were /_not_/ his favorite things, and he hoped that Skywarp awakened beforehand so he didn't panic upon onlining in a small, square room with no view of the sky. Thundercracker gave Ratchet an unreadable look before speaking.

"If Skywarp onlines from stasis in an enclosed room, he is likely to panic."

"Not my choice, Seeker." Ratchet said. "In case you didn't notice, we're at war here, and we can't have you walking about as if you owned the base."

"It will be detrimental to his recovery."

"I'm aware of your kind's need for the sky." Ratchet said, almost seeming offended. "However, my medbay isn't equipped to hold prisoners for longer than it takes me to fix 'em, and I don't trust you two enough to let you stay."

"I offer you my word that we will not interfere with normal operations or attempt anything that would be construed as harmful." Thundercracker finally said, after considering it.

Ratchet laughed incredulously. "The word of a 'Con."

"No. The word of a Seeker." Thundercracker said.


	2. Chapter 2

_Wow, I didn't think this would be quite as popular as it has been. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favorited and followed so far; it's things like that that keep me writing._

_Warnings: Nongraphic sticky interfacing, sparkmerging, Seeker fluff_

_Pairings: Starscream/Skywarp/Thundercracker_

_Still ain't mine. Unfortunately._

_I love reviews. ^_^_

* * *

Ratchet just stared at Thundercracker. His disbelief was plain on his faceplates, as was something else...was that speculation? Thundercracker wasn't sure. He simply met the Autobot medic's gaze, his hands open at his sides.

It was Ratchet who looked away first. "Only until he's online and stable, and you're getting locked in isolation five, in the back corner." He paused. "It has a large window with a clear view of the sky." He looked back down at Skywarp and began the tedious work of sealing the many stress fractures the impact had caused in the teleporter's frame.

"I thank you. Skywarp may not." the blue flier stated, putting his hands behind his back and standing at a respectful distance as he watched Ratchet repair his trinemate.

* * *

Starscream tried very hard not to look as bored as he felt during the post-battle debriefing. He knew that a loss tended to make Megatron even more violent and erratic than usual, and Starscream was preoccupied with thoughts and worries regarding his trinemates as it was. He forced himself to pay attention /_again_/.

"Objective: incomplete." Soundwave droned. "Nemesis reserves: insufficient. Reduction in rations: necessary."

Megatron scowled at his TIC and swung his helm around to stare at Starscream. "Well? What's /_your_/ answer to our losses and lack of fuel? Surely /_you_/ have something to say!" The note in his raspy voice was dangerous, and Starscream recognized it for what it was. That still didn't stop his vocalizer from engaging before his processor caught up; it never did.

"Of /_course_/ I've something to say. This faction is /_dying_/ due to your overwhelming incompetence as a leader! Your obsession with Optimus Prime will be the death of us all!"

Onslaught winced behind his facemask and visor; did the Air Commander never learn?

Megatron turned on his second in command, optics blazing as if aflame. "And /_you_/ think that /_you_/ could do better? Without their precious Prime, the Autobots would fall apart! You can't even keep your own trine from getting captured; your leadership skills are as ridiculous as your voice! If I hear so much as another /_sound_/ from you, you'll wish it had been /_you_/ who'd been captured." The threat implicit in that dark growl was enough to make even Starscream think twice. He opened his mouth on reflex and then shut it just as quickly, scowling at his commander before turning on one heel-thruster and stalking off the command bridge.

How was he going to get Skywarp and Thundercracker back where they belonged? The trine bond was strained at this distance, but Starscream could still feel them. He tried to comm Thundercracker but got no response. Starscream frowned at that; the Autobots were apparently jamming their communications. It was standard protocol, but still, he didn't like not being able to speak to them. He could already start to feel that odd prickling feeling in his sensornet that meant that his trine was too far away from him.

Starscream had never reacted well to being apart from his trinemates. They at least still had each other, and he supposed that that was all well and good for /_them_/; he was stuck on the Nemesis. He pursed his lips and started thinking. Megatron wouldn't want the command trine out of commission for /_too/_ long; they /_were_/ the superior fliers onboard, and the Slagmaker certainly didn't want Autobot scientists having too long to study Skywarp's unique teleportation ability. It was unlikely that they'd be able to duplicate it, but they may figure out, as Starscream had, how to nullify it. That would put them at a significant tactical disadvantage.

Starscream's spark reached out toward his mates almost unconsciously, and he found that Skywarp was still unconscious, but Thundercracker seemed relatively content. He sent back an emotion indicating _care/concern/love/trying_ and allowed himself a small smile. There was nothing that he could do for them immediately, and he chafed against that restriction. Starscream hated feeling powerless. He distracted himself with one of his most cherished memories- his trine-flight. They'd all been so young then, even Thundercracker who was their elder by at least ten vorn, and the war had yet to tear Cybertron apart. Vos was still its own nation, and life was so much simpler...

* * *

"_Today's the day, Screamer." Skywarp said happily, earning himself a sidelong glare from his trinemate-to-be at the hated nickname._

"_You don't call me Screamer and I won't call you Warpy." Starscream said, though he was smiling. _

"_And neither of you are to call me /_any_/ silly names." Thundercracker added, straight-faced. It was hard to tell when the quiet Seeker was joking, though he /had/ opened up more than a bit thanks to Skywarp's irreverent nature. _

"_Don't worry, TeeCee." both Starscream and Skywarp said in unison, and all three of them broke into quiet laughter. They were excited and nervous, anticipatory and overjoyed. This was the cycle they'd planned for, and they were to affirm their bond and join together in front of most of Vos in a traditional trine-flight._

_Not many bothered these days, but Starscream as the Winglord decided that he should set an example for his people. Skywarp had quickly agreed, but Thundercracker, being decidedly more privacy-oriented than the other two, had needed a bit of prodding. He'd finally agreed, though, and the date had been set. Starscream and Thundercracker had already been taught the forms and glyphs that were to be used; Skywarp, being of much lower caste, had required remedial training. _

_Neither Starscream nor Thundercracker cared about Skywarp's caste, and soon it would be a non-issue; once they trined, Thundercracker and Skywarp would be considered to be one rank below Starscream himself._

_There was a crowd of Seekers poised to observe the flight, which was to be held in the skies directly over Vos. It would be a display of courtship, grace, and speed. _

_All too soon it was time for them to take to the skies, and the three Seekers stood in the middle of the city itself on a landing-pad, offering the first words that would begin the ceremony. It was both challenge and affirmation. By custom, it would be Starscream who spoke. They stood in the traditional triangular formation: Starscream at the apex, as designated lead, with Skywarp to his left, Thundercracker to his right. That was the only thing that might change during this flight; they would test themselves to decide who would be Second-in-flight and who would be Third._

_Starscream spoke, and his words were amplified so that the city could hear him through the vidscreens that dotted the spires of Vos._

"_I have made my choice." he stated simply, and sent the two the glyph for _possession/want/claiming_._

"_Prove your claim." Thundercracker replied, swiftly echoed by Skywarp. All three Seekers' sparks spun quickly, the sync beginning even now. Starscream touched both fliers' wings gently, in blessing for a good, fair flight, and stepped back. That was the signal for them to take off, and take off they did._

_There was a reason why Starscream had chosen these two particular Seekers, and it wasn't, as some said, that their coloring didn't clash with his. It was their skill in the air, their particular aerial dance, and their strengths that seemed to complement his own so well that had drawn him first to Skywarp, then to Thundercracker. _

_They took off in opposite directions, though their flightpath took them closer together as they soared high above the crysmetal spires. Their contrails wove an intricate pattern that was nearly a helix and Starscream leapt into the sky, in root-form as was traditional._

_After all, one couldn't capture one's mates without arms to hold them._

_His sensornet was attuned to the area as well as the two fliers who taunted him gently from between the rainbows. Starscream glanced around and caught a glimpse of Skywarp, so it was he whom he chased first. He poured on the speed, sending pulses through his EM field that could be interpreted as either desire or a need to conquer; in this flight, they were really one and the same. _

_Skywarp responded with a wave of playful lust; he was looking /_forward_/ to being claimed in front of the city. Starscream smirked and sent him a private comm: /_Exhibitionist_./_

_/_You know it, Scree._/ he replied smartly, and the chase was on. Through the towers they ducked and weaved, the light glinting off their plating. It made Starscream almost glow silvery, streaks of red and blue mingling with the blurred colors from his speed. Like the tail of a shooting star. Skywarp looked blacker than space, than night itself, edged with twilight purple that sparkled just like the crysmetal spire he whirled and danced around. _

_Skywarp had faith in his erratic patterns, but he neglected to recall something important: Starscream knew those patterns almost as well as he knew his own. Just as he swooped below the smaller tricolored Seeker to initiate a warp jump, he was surrounded by slim, strong arms, hot lips at his audial._

"_Mine." Starscream said for all to hear, and it was then that Skywarp had to choose. To fight, or to accept Starscream's claim? The dark Seeker tensed for a moment, his frame literally poised for flight or flight, and Starscream bit down on Skywarp's neck rather hard, purring through his vents in tones that were as old as their kind._

_Skywarp's resolve crumbled and he moaned aloud, frame arching into Starscream's as he responded with a trill of his own, this indicating willing submission, a desire to /_belong_/ to a whole that would be greater than himself. _

"_I choose you freely, Skywarp of the Spire, and will protect you under my wings and within my spark until the end of our days." Starscream said, and his frame echoed the sentiment, hands holding tightly to Skywarp as they flew in tandem._

"_I choose you freely, Winglord Starscream, and will follow you with all that I am, my spark bound to yours, beside you and with you until the end of our days." Skywarp responded, his vocalizer stumbling a bit over the unfamiliar Old Vos words._

_Starscream grinned, a genuine grin that lit his face from the inside out. It wasn't a side many saw of the young Winglord of Vos, and the audience below them nearly sighed, some recalling their own trine flights, others wishing that they'd had the bearings to do it themselves._

"_Come, let us catch our third." Star offered Skywarp his hand, and the black and violet Seeker bowed over it in midair. They both took off in search of the elder Seeker, working together to capture him, to bring him into their binary and make of it a trine._

_It didn't take long for them to find Thundercracker his coloring didn't blend well with the surroundings, and he was a bit larger and more heavily armored than most Seekers. Still, he flew almost insanely fast considering the weight of his plating, and it took them both to block him into a corner. The larger Seeker gave them both a look that told them he wasn't going to give in as easily as Skywarp had, and Thundercracker began to gather power for a minor blast of sonics that would unbalance the two Seekers just long enough for him to get away and prolong the chase._

_He hadn't counted on Skywarp's speed, though, and as he released the blast, Skywarp grabbed Starscream and they disappeared, reappearing behind the blue Seeker just in time for each of them to grab one arm, twin grins on their faces._

"_You belong to us now." Starscream said, and Thundercracker growled in mock-rejection, his EM field demanding that they prove it, that they earn his favor before making such audacious claims._

_This could be done with a fight, or they could seduce him. Either way was traditional, it merely depended on the ones involved and their personal tastes. It wasn't like they'd never interfaced before, but Starscream wasn't altogether certain that Thundercracker would appreciate being 'faced senseless in front of the greater majority of Vos. Still, he /_had_/ agreed to this, knowing what could happen...  
_

_Starscream and Skywarp shared a glance for a split nanoklik before sliding in close, their lips working in tandem over Thundercracker's wings. The larger Seeker stifled a groan; this was /_definitely_/ unfair, so he decided to fight back. _

_Instead of using his sonics to damage, he sent vibrations through his frame, which carried into the plating of the two fliers who were pressed close to him. Starscream actually cried out; Skywarp merely laughed delightedly and nipped at the edge of the wing he was worshipping. That caused Thundercracker to briefly lose control of the sonic energy, and it stopped, allowing Starscream time enough to recover and begin staking his claim rather more thoroughly than before. _

_They rose higher and higher into the sky, making sure to gain enough altitude so that when they joined bodies as well as sparks, they'd have plenty of time to finish before coming close to the ground. Starscream ended up in the center, Thundercracker having given in to his prospective trinemates' caresses, and to those on the ground they were almost nothing more than small specks in the sky, sailing on a warm air current that would keep them aloft for some time indeed._

_Their touches were heated and precise, designed to inflame both frame and spark; Skywarp wrapped his legs around Starscream's waist even as Thundercracker slid into him from behind, his low voice murmuring words of acceptance and lust. As they joined together, Starscream spoke, albeit in a very shaky voice._

"_Thundercracker, my Second, Skywarp, my Third my life is yours as well as yours is my own. I will take of you freely and give of myself until that day when we are called to the Well."_

"_I will be your Second and guard your Third; my spark is yours as well as yours is my own. I will take of you freely and give of myself until that day when we are called to the Well." Thundercracker whispered, nipping at Starscream's audial._

"_I will be your Third and support you both; my spark is yours as well as yours is my own. I will take of you freely and give of myself until that day when we are called to the Well." Skywarp said, his voice strong despite the tremors that wracked his form. _

"_Be one with me." Starscream breathed, and as they fell, entwined, their cockpit glass shifted to reveal their sparks, the bond beginning to form even now._

* * *

Starscream shook his head. The memory had helped him to feel closer to his trinemates, and he hoped that they had caught it and drawn some comfort from it as well. He picked up a datapad and began to outline a retrieval plan, just in case Skywarp really was too injured to warp them both out soon enough.

* * *

Ratchet wheeled Skywarp into the promised isolation room, which was well lit by the window as well as the lights that seemed to be omnipresent in medical facilities.

"Do you require anything?" the medic asked Thundercracker.

"No. You have been kinder than required." the Seeker admitted, sitting down on the berth that took up the far left wall.

"There's a call button on the wall there. I will bring you energon at the beginning of offcycle; if Skywarp regains consciousness before then, please let me know." Ratchet gave Thundercracker a Look. "And if he gives me any trouble, to the brig you go. I /_don't_/ have to do this, you know."

Thundercracker frowned sourly. "Yes, yes, I know. We will be on our best behavior."

"You better be." Ratchet said, though he had a thoughtful look on his face as he locked the door.


	3. Chapter 3

_This one's a bit shorter than they have been, but any update is better than no update, I think. Next chapter shall have more goodies within, with more plotty goodness as well._

_Thanks again to all who read, review, follow, and favorite this and my other fics. Y'all rock!_

_Warnings for Ch 3: Slashy overtones, mentions of violence_

_Pairings: The trine?_

_Still isn't mine, but three Seekers would be my best Xmas gift ever!_

* * *

Thundercracker was grateful for the window. It let him know that he wasn't completely trapped, that there /_was_/ indeed an outside world not very far away from him. He glanced over at Skywarp and his expression brightened; he could sense that Warp was trying to come out of stasis. The blue Seeker stood and walked to Skywarp's berthside, taking Warp's left hand in his own.

"Sky? Skywarp. Speak to me, if you can." Thundercracker's tone was low and soothing; he knew he'd have to explain their predicament to him as he likely remembered little about their capture.

"Mmmmmmph frag TC my /_processor_/ hurts..." Skywarp almost squeaked, his optics firmly offline. "Turn /_off_/ those lights, Hook's a fragging sadist to have me online to that..."

Thundercracker didn't have access to the lighting. He had access to almost nothing, in fact, but what was he to expect in the Autobot base?

"Warp, you're not on the Nemesis." he explained.

"'s Stars?" Skywarp demanded. "Far away..."

"He /_is_/ on the Nemesis." TC paused. "I /_think_/ he's on the Nemesis, anyway. We're captured, Sky."

Skywarp's helm dropped backward with an audible 'thunk' and he swore softly and fluently under his breath. "Can't warp, TC. Parallel processing that finds coordinates is fragged up an' the only one who c'n fix it is..."

"Starscream." both seekers said in unison.

Skywarp whimpered. "We're in the brig, aren't we." He began to shiver just slightly, and that's when TC laid his hand back on Skywarp's arm.

"No. I...asked the medic to keep us in a room with a window. For you." he admitted, and Skywarp onlined his optics. "You did that for me." he stated, wincing in pain. He immediately found the window and the shivering stopped.

"Of course I did." Thundercracker sounded surprised that Skywarp would even ask, but Warp had never been the most introspective or unselfish Seeker around.

"Don't know if I'd've thought to do that for you or Scree." Skywarp said almost sadly. "But...thanks, TeeCee. Otherwise I'd've freaked out and then you'd have had to sit on me or something-"

Skywarp was interrupted by the door opening. Ratchet strode inside, his expression impassive.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, and Skywarp frowned. "What do /_you_/ care, was your guys who slagged me!"

"It wasn't /_me_/ who slagged you; if it had been, you'd know it." Ratchet countered. "Now answer the question."

Skywarp made a face. "Hurts. The lights are bright, I'm locked up, I'm missing my trinemate, and I'm hungry. Also, the walls are really ugly, the slag do you all like this /_orange_/ for..." He trailed off, noting Ratchet's aggravated expression.

"If it weren't for my intervention you would be in the brig right now. Your trinemate swore his good behavior; if you don't immediately do the same I will personally take you to the brig." Ratchet said.

Skywarp scowled but he glanced at Thundercracker, then the window, then his trinemate again and finally nodded. "Fine, I'll be good. Not like I have a choice anyway." He wasn't going to mention that he couldn't teleport.

"Then you may remain here for a short while longer." Ratchet idly strode to the medberth and began scanning Skywarp, offering him a small chip that contained a mild painkiller for his aches. Skywarp took it without thanking the medic, and once more Thundercracker felt obligated to do so for Skywarp.

That was part of their trine bond as well; they shored up each others' weaknesses in more ways than just flight. Skywarp tended to be selfish and thoughtless and rather ignorant of consequences; Starscream had more temper than sense. Thundercracker was far calmer than either, but he would often refuse to stand up for himself. The support they offered each other was almost unconscious, it was so ingrained within them. It was almost like programming.

* * *

Starscream could finally feel Skywarp again, and that offered the Air Commander some small amount of relief. That feeling disappeared as soon as Skywarp made it clear that he wouldn't be teleporting anywhere until his parallel processing unit was repaired. Starscream knew he couldn't talk Thundercracker through it using their link, either; the repair was too complex.

Frag.

Starscream paced within their too-empty quarters, trying desperately not to think about his trinemates' predicament. That was damned difficult to do when they weren't here. He missed them terribly already. Starscream knew that he had to get it out here in the privacy of his quarters, because showing too much emotion regarding the safety of his trine would draw far too much suspicion upon them.

Stifling emotion was /_not_/ something Starscream was good at; he usually fared better if he substituted one emotion for another. He sighed in resignation- he'd likely have to get angry to hide it, and getting angry likely meant provoking Megatron...and provoking Megatron meant yet another trip to medbay.

At least Thundercracker wasn't here to /look/ at him if he /_did_/ get himself slagged, though right now Starscream would have given quite a bit to see that long-suffering gaze and hear the soft sigh.

/_Double_/ frag.

The SIC flopped down on their berth, his wingtips shivering. He looked around at the various items that told the story of who lived here- Thundercracker's wall murals, Skywarp's stuffed Seeker toy that he'd somehow kept from sparklinghood. Starscream's own crystal collection, the minerals of a hundred worlds catching the light and throwing it back against the mirrored display unit he'd fashioned for them.

Skywarp had just given him the clear one an orn ago. Starscream walked over to it and grasped it in his hand, optics offlining for a few moments.

_/Warp, please be okay. Or I'll kick your aft myself./_

* * *

Ratchet finished the scan and smirked at the black Seeker. "Well, I did a good job as usual; you'll be able to fly again /_without_/ tearing yourself apart in a few days or so."

Skywarp reflexively made a face. "That's...not reassuring." he said uneasily. Thundercracker merely arched an optic ridge and waited for Ratchet to explain further.

"The stress fractures are almost completely healed, restoring your structural integrity to its normal levels. Your wing's patched and it'll hold providing you /_don't_/ try and break Mach Three anytime soon." Ratchet then gave them both an odd look. "And the malnutrition is nearly resolved. What are they /_feeding_/ you over there?"

"Energon, of course." Thundercracker said mildly. "Of the best quality we can obtain." That was a lie; only the officers received high grade, and that was a luxury that could and was quickly rescinded for actual or perceived failures. Shockwave was sent the majority of the fuel the Decepticons were able to refine or steal. The troops on the Nemesis made do, except of course for Megatron and his favorites. They, TC was certain, lacked for nothing. Sometimes Skywarp used his ability to get extra fuel for himself and his trine, but the penalty for getting caught stealing energon was death.

"Skywarp's fuel tanks are filled with some odd organic /_sludge_/." Skywarp looked horrified, almost screeching at that little revelation.

"Oh that is fragging gross, get it OUT of me!" he begged the medic. Even Thundercracker had to shiver at that; he wondered if he too had the same problem? Ratchet was, as usual, one step ahead of them all.

"If you allow me to scan you, Thundercracker, I can determine if you too need treatment."

"Why do you even care?" the blue flier asked, optics serious.

"I'm a medic." Ratchet explained. "Yes, you're a 'Con, but my oaths as a medic supersede faction, at least when it comes to the health of a patient. I don't let people suffer. That's why you two flitterglitches are in /_here_/ instead of in jail." The red and white 'Bot pointed at the berth Skywarp was occupying. "Swap places, you two."

Skywarp scooted off the examination berth and Thundercracker sat gingerly upon it, /_really_/ not liking the idea of some organic residue clogging up his fuel systems. Not only was that absolutely disgusting, it was potentially dangerous as well; what if debris wedged itself in a fuel line, interrupting the flow at a critical moment? Warp stood next to Thundercracker until Ratchet snapped for him to get the frag out of his light so he could /_see_/ already; after that, Skywarp moved behind his trinemate, looking concerned.

"Just as I thought...you have it too. I'm going to have to synthesize a solvent that you'll drink to get rid of this, you realize. Or else slap you into stasis and do it that way." Thundercracker shook his head immediately at that-stasis, even medical stasis, was /_not_/ a sensation he enjoyed. He always woke disoriented and feeling vaguely ill afterward.

"We will drink your solvent." TC said, glancing at Skywarp to forestall any complaints.

"Good thing I have you two here already, then. I'd like to keep you for observation." Ratchet gave no impression of his kindness but somehow Thundercracker /_knew_/ that that was an element here.

That, Skywarp /_did_/ understand and he grinned. "Thanks, doc-bot." Ratchet snorted and left the two fliers in their isolation room, leaving without another word.


	4. Chapter 4

_Agh, sorry for the delay in updating; I've been having some medical issues that have made it hard for me to sit upright long enough to type out a chapter. Rest assured that I haven't forgotten about this story; it's been on my mind. Thanks again for the reviews and favorites!_

_Warnings for this chapter- slashy overtones, as usual_

_/: = bond talk  
_

_/ = comm  
_

_The Skywarp eating explosives mention is courtesy of Dogstar, whose Skywarp kept his explosive in the same container as his rust sticks. Hilarity ensued. :D  
_

* * *

Starscream didn't expect the ping at his door in the least. Most of the _Nemesis_' crew avoided him for various reasons; it wasn't like Starscream was the best liked mech on board.

The Air Commander stopped his pacing and eyed the door, not sure if he wanted company or not. No, that was a lie; he /_did_/ want company. But his trine wasn't /_here_/. He finally allowed the door to open without really checking to see who was invading his personal space.

He stared in disbelief when he saw the entire Conehead trine at his door, heads bowed in respect.

"Winglord." Dirge said, speaking for his trine. "Might we come in?"

Starscream nodded uncertainly, confused as to why they'd come /_here_/. Yes, they were as loyal to him as all the Seekers onboard were, but Starscream had never been kind to them. He'd been the exact opposite at times, as a matter of fact.

Plus, they'd used the title that mattered more to him than any word that Megatron could attach to his designation.

The door closed behind them, and Starscream sat down. "Why are you even /_here_/?" he asked, his tone somewhere between confused and bluntly rude.

Dirge steeled himself, glancing at Ramjet and Thrust before speaking. "To...to offer you comfort in the absence of your trinemates." he said very softly, as if audials were listening everywhere. Generally speaking, there /_were_/, but not in Starscream's quarters. He swept the place regularly for bugs, as he didn't really need Soundwave spying on his every action, especially in his own personal space.

What Dirge offered was weakness, weakness that could well be terminal in the Decepticon army. Starscream even opened his mouth to tell him so, but the words stuck themselves firmly in his vocalizer, refusing to come out. It was weakness to be certain, but it was also traditional.

Starscream had worked so hard to maintain what traditions he could, even here.

The Coneheads watched their Winglord intently, waiting for his answer. They expected rejection, had even steeled themselves for it because of the volatile nature of their Air Commander.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The stuff bubbled and fizzed as if it were possessed by some spirit from the Pit, and it smelled absolutely terrible. Skywarp stared at the container of solvent as it if were deadly poison.

"TeeCee, I /_really_/ don't want to drink that." he said faintly, feeling his tanks twist sickly.

"Neither do I, but it /_is_/ the most efficient way of getting rid of the buildup. Remember, Warp, organic sludge?" Thundercracker said, his wings hiked high in distress.

"Ugh." Skywarp stated flatly.

Ratchet just watched the two, torn between sighing in frustration and force-feeding the two 'Cons the solution. "I don't care if you drink it or not; I'm doing this as a favor. But don't insult my work." he said mildly.

"Couldn't you make it taste /_good_/?" Skywarp virtually whined.

"Sure, but that'd take half /_my_/ fun out of it. Medicine's supposed to taste like slag; that way, you don't get tempted to get sick again." Ratchet said with a smirk. So much for big bad Decepticons; Ratchet though that Skywarp acted more like a sparkling than a sparkless killer. Thundercracker... Ratchet wasn't sure what to make of him yet. He was quiet, almost /_too_/ quiet, and seemed to give his words a lot of thought before using them. That set him far, far apart from the rest of his trine, Ratchet decided.

The two Seekers looked at each other for a long moment before Thundercracker picked up the container. "Both of us at once." he told Skywarp, who nodded miserably.

They both downed the concoction, wings shivering at the horrible taste. Skywarp finished his first and cried out. "Oh Primus above me that was the most terrible thing I have /_ever_/ put into my mouth, up to and including the time I accidentally ate that explosive!"

Thundercracker nodded his agreement. "Not that I have ever consumed explosives, but Ratchet, that was disgusting. We appreciate it, but it was disgusting."

"You're welcome." Ratchet said with a mock-frown. He gave the two an intense look. "When will you require flight?" he asked softly. Thundercracker's head jerked up and he stared at the medic in shock.

"Why would you care?" he asked.

"Sky-hunger is a recognized condition, and I /_don't_/ have the patience to put up with two sky-craving Seekers, prisoners or not." Ratchet snapped.

"Always need the sky." Skywarp said. "But how could you trust us not to fly away? None of you can catch us in the air."

"I don't know that I can." Ratchet admitted. "But I'd like to think that at least one of you has honor."

"We both do." Skywarp said, optics flaring at the insult. "Just cause it's not the kind you agree with, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!" Thundercracker bristled as well at the implied insult to Skywarp. "But slaggit, we're /_prisoners of war_/, and I don't even know what you guys plan on /_doing_/ with us; do ya blame me for thinking of escaping?" Skywarp demanded to know, his ruby optics alight with emotion. "For all I know you're gonna take us out back of the ship and deactivate us, just to send our wings back to Stars!"

Ratchet gave Skywarp an odd look at the nickname for the irascible Air Commander. "Autobots don't mistreat prisoners, or haven't you figured that out already?" Ratchet said, his own optics flashing back with just as much heat. "Megatron will probably be calling Prime to deal for you two soon enough, and then you'll be /_somebot else's_/ helmache!"

x-x-x-x-x-x-

Starscream wanted to tell them to get the slag out of his quarters. He didn't particularly care for any of the three, and he was pretty sure that the feeling was mutual.

If that was the case, though, why had they offered this? Starscream didn't know, and there was almost nothing he hated more than to not know a thing- it was far worse when he knew that he /_couldn't_/ know, not for certain.

The traditional response came from his lips before he realized what he was saying. "I accept your offer, and appreciate your sensitivity to me in my time of need." His words were just as quiet as the offer had been, and the Coneheads looked at their Winglord in shock. None of them had actually expected him to take them up on their offer, and now they weren't sure what they were going to do now that they had permission.

_/:Winglord or no Winglord, I am /_not_/ 'facing the Screamer.:/_ Ramjet said along their trine bond, and he could feel the others' sparkfelt agreement.

_/:We'll just lie with him.:/_ Dirge said. _/:Sounds like a plan:/_ added Thrust, and they turned almost as one to the lone Seeker.

"If you get on the berth-" Dirge stared to say, and Starscream immediately cut him off.

"I am /_not_/ going to-"

Ramjet actually interrupted their Air Commander. "Sir, it's not what you're thinking."

"Go on." Starscream said, scowling.

"We'll just lay near you." Dirge finished awkwardly, and Starscream inwardly kicked himself. Of course they wouldn't share their bond with him- that was only for /_very_/ close relationships, and Starscream wasn't that close with anyone but Skywarp and Thundercracker. He certainly wouldn't allow any of his subordinates access to his spark.

"Fine." Starscream hadn't recharged well since his trinemates had been captured; it was beginning to take its toll on his systems. He was willing to try just about anything at this point, and he supposed that snuggling with the Coneheads was pretty damned drastic. He lay himself in the center of the berth, which was actually three berths lashed together at the legs and covered with an extra-large berth pad. There'd be room for four, though it might get a bit cozy.

That was ultimately the point, though, and Starscream offlined his optics as Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust settled themselves around their Winglord. If Starscream didn't think too hard, he could almost pretend that it was /_his_/ mates who surrounded him, that it was /_their_/ systems that rumbled and purred next to his own.

That was the last thought he had before he drifted off, feeling a lot better than he had just moments before.


	5. Chapter 5

_Here's your update, folks! Thanks a ton to all my reviewers and readers; it's the reviews that keep me writing. This fic is sort of slow in the buildup, but I have my general outline in my head...things /_will_/ speed up eventually. Unless the characters run away with it again...that happens so often, damn muses..._

_Warnings for this chapter: Some violence, and implicationy things_

_Pairings: the usual_

_Still ain't mine!_

* * *

Starscream onlined alone, but that was just fine with him- it had been awkward enough /_having_/ the Coneheads in his personal quarters to begin with. He certainly didn't need the additional awkwardness that would have followed actually _onlining_ while entwined with the other trine. He sighed, poking among his bond- his trinemates were both still in recharge.

Starscream had always been one to online earlier than they did, anyway. He sighed and prepared for his day, turning on the cold solvent in the trine's personal 'racks. He'd hoped for hot water, but not this day- nothing nonessential /_ever_/ worked right in this underwater tin can. Shivering and cursing the fact that there was no one to scrub his wings for him, he exited the racks and headed to the bridge, hoping that his oh so glorious leader had decided that it was time to deal for his trinemates at last.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Thundercracker awoke to the sound of Skywarp purging into a waste container. In between the wrenching sounds, several creative curses came through.

"Wretched frelling fragging piece of rust-ridden scrap metal...ugh, this has to be torture..." Warp moaned, on his knees and shivering weakly.

Ratchet peered through the door, brought by the noise. "Well, how else did you expect to get it out, magic?"

"Oh frag you Ratch-" Skywarp groaned, and the medic just laughed. The purple and black Seeker dragged himself to the berth that he and Thundercracker had been sharing, and just in time, too- TC took Skywarp's place, his optics flickering in distress.

"Oh, don't be such a sparkling about it. That should take care of it." the medic said, a slightly gleeful look on his faceplates. Thundercracker glared up, calculating exactly how long it would take to literally wipe that look off of Ratchet's face, but there was no real malice in it. He understood why...it was the how that royally sucked aft, to borrow one of his wingmate's phrases.

"/_You_/ try purging up your entire inner workings and see how you feel." Skywarp stated, already beginning to feel a bit better...as long as he didn't move his head at all.

"/_I_/ don't consume energon that must taste like dead slag." Ratchet replied.

"Like we have a choice!" Thundercracker said, eyeing the medic. He too slid back onto the berth, staring at the red and white mech warily.

"There are /_always_/ choices, Thundercracker." Ratchet said calmly, and it was evident that he meant far more than it seemed on the surface. Skywarp screwed his face up into a frown, but Thundercracker understood completely.

"Sometimes there really are not, Ratchet...and sometimes, just sometimes, it is better to face the demon you know rather than the one who is unfamiliar to you." The blue Seeker then turned his face away, unwilling to continue that line of thought.

Ratchet gave Thundercracker a piercing look and slowly nodded. "And sometimes, Thundercracker...one isn't given the opportunity to know what's best for him for whatever reason."

Skywarp snorted and turned gingerly onto his side, wings dangling off the side of the berth. TC grunted noncommittally. The medic couldn't know how it was for them, so how dare he speak like he did?

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

It couldn't be called anything less than a throne. It sat in the center of the bridge, positioned just where its occupant could see everything that went on in the room at a glance. As Starscream strode through the sliding doors, it was occupied by his Lord Commander, who glared at Starscream as if he'd interrupted something vitally important.

Starscream ignored him and sat at his customary position to run the usual scans, his wings held high in a combination of concern and affront. That was normal when faced with being alone with Megatron. No one but them was on the bridge at this early joor- local time put it at near five A.M., and even Soundwave was comfortably in recharge, likely surrounded by his cassettes.

Megatron tapped his fingertips on the arm of the throne, almost as if considering something. Finally, he spoke.

"Your glitched-up wingmates are /_still_/ the honored guests of the Autobots, Starscream. Why is that, do you think?" he asked, the rasp in his voice irritating Starscream's last nerve fiber.

"Likely because they haven't been released? How should /_I_/ know, oh Mighty Megatron?" he snapped back, wings quivering now.

"The teleporter should have gotten them out long ago." Megatron said, optics flashing dangerously. "Or perhaps they're enjoying their stay a bit too much?"

"Oh, don't be an even bigger fool than usual." Starscream said, whirling in his seat. "Skywarp's the most loyal mech you have, and if you don't realize that, you're an even bigger idiot than even /_I_/ thought." Once more, emotion made his vocalizer engage before his processor could stop him, and Megatron virtually flew from his throne to backhand his SIC out of his chair.

Starscream landed in a heap, thankful yet again that long experience had taught him how to fall without seriously injuring himself. It had hurt, of course, but nothing was actually damaged.

Yet.

The whining pleas came to his lips for what felt like the millionth time...but he stopped himself, just this once. He looked up at his commander with hate in his optics.

"What /_would_/ it be worth to you to get them back, hm?" Megatron asked, almost /_purring_/. Starscream shuddered inwardly and spat, "What in the Seven Pits of Kaon are you on about?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Megatron said dangerously.

"N-no, I heard you, my Lord." Starscream said. He knew that tone. That tone often meant bent wings and dented faceplates and broken glass, and he wanted none of it. What he wanted was his trine, back here with him, safe on the _Nemesis_...as safe as one could be on the base of a madmech. He /_didn't_/ want Megatron to know exactly how much the other two Seekers meant to him, though. That would give his commander far too much leverage over him. The Air Commander thought furiously as he stared up.

"Of course I need them back, I refuse to fly alongside any of the other relics that grace these hallowed halls." Starscream decided to play upon his trine's strengths- they /_were_/ the most skilled fliers in the faction and he knew it. So did Megatron. "If you want your air force intact, you'll deal for them. Or else allow their science team to access Skywarp's warp gate, and Thundercracker's sonics."

Megatron actually paused before sneering down at the Seeker. "I could just replace you. Take care of several annoyances at once. One treacherous Air Commander, and idiot, and a traitor in the makings."

"Thundercracker's no traitor!" Starscream shot back. He didn't really think he could plausibly deny the barb at Skywarp's processing power. Warp wasn't stupid- nobody stupid could calculate so many vectors at once. He was just easily distracted and generally thinking about far too many things at once to focus on one thing.

Megatron had no hard proof of Thundercracker's treachery- he'd never done anything, never even /_said_/ anything. Megatron just had an odd feeling about the too-silent Seeker, and because of that, he distrusted and disliked him.

"No, /_you're_/ the treacherous one." Megatron said, and Starscream just glared. The warlord kicked out at Starscream, who rolled away from the blow, fouling a wingtip in the process. He hissed in pain, and Megatron laughed.

"So, I repeat...what is it worth to you for me to actually deal with Prime to retrieve them?"

"Enough." Starscream said, rising from the floor.

"Excellent." Megatron said, and Starscream felt cold inside. He supressed the feeling before it could travel along his bond- he didn't need his trinemates worrying about why he was feeling that way.

"Meet me in my personal quarters in two joor." Megatron ordered, and Starscream's wings suddenly stiffened. He knew he'd better not disobey this command. "As you will, my Lord." he said tonelessly.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"How are we gonna get out of here, TC?" Skywarp asked, his face buried between his trinemate's wings. He had spent quite a bit of time staring out the window, but that just barely reduced the deep-seated itch he felt inside. Skywarp needed the sky- he needed to feel the wind on his wings, in his face...and he wasn't going to get it, Ratchet's words notwithstanding.

"I...am not sure." Thundercracker didn't like to admit that, but he wasn't going to lie to Skywarp, either. He, too, felt the urge to take flight, but being older, he was better at stifling the impulses. At least their door was closed and relatively secure. They could speak without too much worry in here, and the Autobots didn't consider being close a weakness.

No, they counted it as a strength. Sometimes, Thundercracker thought that they just might be right.

The elder Seeker turned to face his trinemate, reaching out to pet dark wings. "We'll figure it out, somehow...or Megatron will arrange for our release." He wasn't so sure about that; it really depended on his mood. He was likely upset at the battle's loss, not to mention their 'Cons failure to gather enough fuel...and he was also likely torqued at the loss of two of his Elite Trine as well. Thundercracker winced, knowing that they'd likely be facing some sort of punishment once they returned.

He vowed not to allow Starscream to take the brunt of it again. He did that too often. He claimed it was his duty as leader of their trine, but Thundercracker didn't like that fact. He was larger and better-armored than Starscream; he felt that he could take the physical chastisements better, but Star never allowed it.

Skywarp could feel the ambivalence and distress through their link, and he began stroking along Thundercracker's side seams to distract him. Thundercracker snuggled closer, but he moved Skywarp's hands so that they were wrapped around his shoulders.

Skywarp only frowned for a moment. "Not now, huh?" he said, teasing. Thundercracker nodded.

"Star is feeling rather odd at the moment..." the blue Seeker said.

"Yeah, but he's shutting us off, sort of." Warp said, frowning deeper. "I hope he's all right."

There was a razor's edge of dread mixed with determination coming through the faint link. Both of the Seekers on the _Ark_ tried to send comfort to their trineleader, but Starscream was a master at dampening certain emotions from their trine bond. He didn't want to distress them any more than they already were.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Starscream sighed and checked his chrono. He had to get going...he had an appointment that he'd give his left null ray to miss.

Sending one last pulse of care/concern/determination to his trinemates, Starscream narrowed their bond to the thinnest thread he could before rising to meet with Megatron.


	6. Chapter 6

_So I got stuck a bit on this one, and was discussing it with my spark-sister Katea-Nui. We got into an odd mood and began RPing something that we called an AU to Trine...and somehow, some way it began to /_fit_/ into the story by leaps and bounds. So, this is not only a long chapter, it contains a bunch of Trine canon as well as insights on one particular Seeker's motives and feelings_.  
_._

_Shout-out to Katea-Nui, of course, who puts such interesting life into Ratchet._

_Pairings for this chapter: Thundercracker/Ratchet; Starscream/? (Don't wish to spoil the story)_

_Warning: *******NONCON WARNING*******. It's not graphic, it's not glorified, but it's there, and if that's a trigger for you then I strongly suggest that you do not read the last bit starting with Starscream's arrival to Megatron's quarters. _

_Other warnings: Slash, sticky interfacing, dirty talk, crossfaction, and talk of interface as a 'gift'_

_Disclaimer: If this were mine, Transformers would be rated R and would not contain Tracks._

* * *

Ratchet set his tools down with a deep sigh that seemed to fill the empty bay. Well, empty aside for the private room set aside for their... guests. Who were now almost completely better. The medic rolled his shoulders, giving himself a mental pat on the back. He'd handled them well, in spite of knowing little about their general anatomy. He had notes now, but most of it had been guesswork and he disliked working off that immensely, but there had been no helping it.

He'd guessed right. That was the important part. He rubbed his neck and flexed his digits before turning to the task of cleaning the cycle's tools. After that he could retreat to his office and maybe FINALLY get some damned paperwork done.

He'd never been so glad to see the black and purple Seeker finally, finally, /_finally_/ drop into recharge. Skywarp was beyond restless, the need for the sky bothering him far more than it did Thundercracker.

Then again, TC /_was_/ older and had far better impulse control. Still, he felt odd...like his plating was itching, and he wanted nothing more than to dig his claws underneath it to cool the uncomfortable sensations.

TC exited the isolation room and glanced around the lurid orange medbay. Hm, where had Ratchet gone? TC knew he rarely strayed too far from the wards, just in case...and TC wanted to to talk to him. To talk and to make his offer without the distracting influence of Skywarp.

Ratchet stood in the back of the medical bay, at the large basin sink used to clean and sterilize tools. He was working on one of his bladed scalpels, the laser ones needing a different sort of maintenance than simple cleaning. He hummed to himself, an old song that he remembered his carrier humming all the time.

He heard water running, and Thundercracker tilted his helm, listening intently. Ah. Ratchet was at the back of the elongated room. He made his way over there, moving far more quietly than one might expect by looking at him and schooled his expression to look somewhat neutral and impassive. This wasn't about emotion...well, it /_was_/, in a way, but in yet another way it wasn't.

"Apologies for interrupting you." TC said softly. He didn't mention to the irascible medic that he was humming slightly off-key.

Ratchet startled, fumbling with the tool in his servo and barely avoiding catching the thing by it's blade. He scowled, turning to glower slightly at the seeker. "Warn a mech next time. Especially one with sharp implements that can easily take out an optic!" He waved the scalpel under the seeker's nose for emphasis before rinsing it and setting it aside to dry. "What did you need, Thundercracker?"

Thundercracker forced himself not to flinch at the scalpel being so casually waved in front of his nasal ridge, but he could see that Ratchet's movements were controlled despite the outward appearance. "Again, apologies. I was unaware that you were handling your tools." The Seeker glanced down at Ratchet's hand to make sure he hadn't cut himself; the blades on those things were beyond wickedly sharp. They had to be, to cut through metal and fiber optics and various other materials.

"I just wish to speak with you, that's all."

"Ah." Ratchet made a sound of acknowledgement before deciding to deal with the rest of the tools afterwards, leaving them soaking and shutting off the water. He moved to dry his hands, leaning against the counter. "I'm listening. What's on your processor?"

Now came the hard part. How did one explain a rather archaic Seeker custom to a groundpounder, albeit one that Thundercracker respected almost as if he flew? He decided to start slowly. "We owe you a great deal, Ratchet." he said simply, spreading his hands out in front of him. "And for this, I offer you service in return."

Ratchet raised an optic ridge, frowning slightly. "You don't owe me anything, TC." He snorted, setting the drying cloth down. "I'm a medic. I did my job. Pretty damned well, if you ask me."

"But I do. It's customary." Thundercracker said patiently. There were other factors at hand here as well- he was attracted to the medic, and he could use the interface. Skywarp wasn't, which is why he gladly handed over this 'task' to his trinemate...he just rather hoped Star wouldn't be /_too_/ disappointed...if he could even talk Ratchet into it at all.

"You did far more than you had to, and you know it." His voice was soft, though tinged with a faint rumbling that vibrated along his own wings.

Ratchet's face heated slightly in something he would never admit to being embarrassment. "I did what any decent mech should. War or no war." He countered.

"You are far more than merely 'decent'. You are a credit to your mentors and your teachers, and an asset to your profession." All of that was true, though TC was far from used to saying all this.

He stepped closer, almost in Ratchet's personal space and looked down at the medic. "Again...I offer my...service. Though I should think that it won't be a burden, but a gift instead."

Ratchet felt the need to back up, but the counter stopped him for the moment. He frowned at Thundercracker, trying to dig for the meaning for the sudden flattery. "You don't have to ... pay me for anything."

"It isn't precisely a payment." He placed both hands on the counter that Ratchet leaned against, not /_quite_/ touching the medic but getting pretty damned close. "It's Seeker custom." he explained.

Trapped as he was, Ratchet's optics widened as he suddenly realized what Thundercracker was on about. "Thundercracker, stop. We can't."

TC frowned. "Why not?" he asked, genuinely perplexed. "If you worry about my trinemates, Skywarp is aware and Starscream will be. There's no..." He searched for the word, as it wasn't one uttered at all on the Nemesis. "No infidelity."

Okay, Ratchet had to snort at that. "That isn't what I meant. I'm your medic. You are my patient. You're offering payment through interface for a service I gave FREELY and I will not take advantage of you. Besides which, that doesn't even cover the cross faction issues."

The Seeker tilted his head. "It's /_not_/ payment, it's an expression of respect and thanks. I whore myself for no one." That was said /_very_/ firmly. "There is nothing inherently wrong with a consensual relationship- however short-lived- between two who are on opposite sides of the war, or even have other relationships such as doctor/patient. Tell me, Ratchet, does that mean you 'face no one on the Ark, because they too are your patients?"

The medic opened his mouth to rebut that, but found no words to do so. Frag him for being right. Still. "There's plenty wrong with cross faction trysts."

"Why?" Thundercracker challenged again. "There are no authority issues. I have declared that I will not interfere with your work here, and harming you in interface would certainly interfere."

"That isn't... Thundercracker, my reliability could be compromised. I'm an officer." He countered, but that sounded weak to his own audios. Truth was, he WAS attracted to Thundercracker. He was big, strong, had a presence that demanded to be acknowledged even if he rarely spoke without something important to say... And his frame was more than a bit appealing as well, though Ratchet didn't share most mechs' fascination for wings. He was quite happy on the ground. And the more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea was. No matter how wrong it was.

A small smile played on pale lips. "You are making excuses." It was late, they were as alone as they'd ever be, and Thundercracker took one hand in his own and tugged gently to bring the smaller mech's frame flush with his own. "For the next joor, there is no war. There is no /_anything_/ except you and I and this room...and this is where it will stay." he whispered, meaning it. He resolved to enjoy this and to make it as good for their benefactor/medic as he could...as long as Ratchet didn't want to go for his port. TC didn't think he'd be able to do that, custom or no custom.

Ratchet shuddered, hand clutching at the seeker's while the other rose to press against the white chassis, seemingly unsure of he wanted to push away or cling. "Anybody could walk in and catch us."

"I would not ask you to bar entry to those who may need it." TC admitted. "So...we shall have to take that chance." Ratchet hadn't said no. If he had, Thundercracker would have backed off. This was nothing more than token protests- the Seeker had seen that shiver, and he found it oddly arousing. His other hand braced on Ratchet's shoulder, and he looked down into optics that nearly glowed cerulean. They were pressed against each other, the faint thrum of jet engines higher-pitched than Ratchet's own sound, yet together it translated into a low purr that caused TC's optics to flare. He bent his head down to try and kiss him softly. The idle thought that Ratchet probably didn't think 'Cons could do 'soft' left as soon as it came.

Ratchet's intakes hitched, fingers digging into the plating they were clinging too at the gently pressure. His entire frame shuddered as he returned the pressure just as gently, even knowing he should not. Primus, was he really about to do this?

"Mmmmmmmmmmm." That sound was low in the Seeker's chest, sending that feeling through them both as Thundercracker abruptly wrapped both arms around the medic and /_lifted_/ him onto the countertop that he was leaning against. This put him far closer than before and he began nipping at Ratchet's neck cabling, his hands firmly positioned on the medic's hips.

Flickering optics accompanied the harsh hiss of surprise when the medic's pedes left the ground and he found himself firmly seated on the counter. Even still, he tilted his helm aside for Thundercracker as he finally forced himself to move and reciprocate, going for the areas he'd found to be most sensitive. Wing hinges and their seams in particular.

Crimson optics offlined just for a moment- Thundercracker wanted to be able to /_see_/ Ratchet's responses to his touch, though frag if that didn't feel good. He supposed that the medic ought to know where the best places to touch were; after all, he knew anatomy. TC have the medic a half-smile before sliding his lips upward toward Ratchet's audial. "If you want me to stop, say stop." he whispered, hand brushing lightly over the glass that covered Ratchet's chest, so different from his own.

Ratchet shuddered with a soft sound, hands tweaking several wires. "_NOW_ you say that." He muttered before leaning in to nip at the seeker's throat.

The Seeker hissed. "I will not take what is not freely offered...do you give yourself to me?" he asked, his low tones rolling over them both as Thundercracker shifted Ratchet more comfortably on the countertop. Something clattered to the floor, but TC refused to let go of his current partner; he wanted him to concentrate upon /_him_/, not the room around them.

Ratchet wasn't particularly fond of the manhandling, but he snorted. "If I really didn't want this, you'd already have one of those scalpels sticking out of your cranial circuitry."

TC gave Ratchet a /_look_/ and only smiled. "Then tell me...what is it that the fearsome medic of the Autobots prefers? Or will you force me to guess?" The look on the Seeker's face gave the impression that he'd have way too much fun trying to figure it out.

And Ratchet was lying to himself if he said that look didn't catch his vents. "You're the Deceptcion." He teased in spite of himself, corners of his mouth twitch into a smile even as his fingers had moved on to squeeze along wing edges. "Coerce me."

A dark purr came from lips that suddenly quirked into a smile that was at once seductive and compelling. "So /_that's_/ how you like it." he said, running the tip of his glossa down the side seam of the medic's neck. "Fine." he breathed. "You will learn that to challenge me is something you should not do unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences." Thundercracker then effortlessly lifted Ratchet once more and shifted him closer to his own frame, moving toward a wide medical berth meant for a larger mech. He was prepared to hold onto Ratchet even should he struggle, though he doubted the struggles would be real. His fans whirred, not quite at their highest level, but the heat was building fast enough, a dull ache signifying his arousal behind his panel.

Ratchet clung as his world tilted for a moment and he prided himself in that was his ONLY reaction rather than any kind of undignified sound. "Obviously, I'm prepared for anything. It's what being a medic is mostly about." He noted that his tone was as steady as could be expected, as well. One victory for Ratchet.

"Oh, I sincerely doubt you are. But feel free to keep talking." He laid Ratchet down on the berth on his back, his hands firmly on Ratchet's shoulders as he looked down, considering. One hand rose to trace the thin lines of the chevron on his forehelm. "This stands out...I do wonder why." the Seeker mused, tracing it as gently as he could.

Ratchet's optics flared as the sensitive scanning nanites in his chevron reacted and sent static inducing pleasure tingling down his struts. He moaned softly, his hand tracing up Thundercracker's arm to a shoulder vent.

"So /_that's_/ why." He pressed more firmly at the edges, treating it as if it were a wing-edge, and moved Ratchet's hand back down to his side rather firmly. "No touching." he virtually growled. He'd lose his own control far too fast if those talented hands were allowed to wreak havoc across his own plating, and that would defeat the purpose of 'coercing' the medic. He stared into blue optics to ensure that Ratchet got the message loud and clear before continuing his slow and thorough exploration of the grounder's frame.

A shiver tripped down his spine, rattling plating with a soft flutter of metal on metal. "Not precisely fair." he huffed, but kept his servos where they were for the time being. They twitched every time Thundercracker brushed over something sensitive and he squirmed slightly.

"Decepticon." TC remarked offhandedly. "Did you expect me not to take /_every_/ advantage?" Pale lips began to trace where fingers were just instants before, and the Seeker's dent grazed the edge of the chevron just enough to send a vibration through it into the mech below him. His own hands stroked down Ratchet's arms and his midsection, testing each crevice and seam for sensitivity; despite his own boldness TC had never 'faced a grounder before.

Ratchet moaned, clenching his hands to keep them there, now fighting with the urge to not just reach out and touch. "You have me -There!" He gasped, shifting on the berth.

TC chuckled again, able to see the effort that Ratchet was having to expend just to keep his hands down. "If you cannot keep your hands to yourself, I may have to ensure that the decision is no longer your own." he said softly, the light in his optics making his meaning unmistakeable. He stroked the area that had made Ratchet cry out repeatedly, sliding him into the center of the berth so he could position his larger frame on the end of it, parting the medic's thighs gently with one free hand.

Well now wasn't THAT just an idea. Regardless if Thundercracker kept TOUCHING him there... One hand finally moved, quick as a viper or if he were throwing a wrench at Jazz. It grabbed Thundercracker's wrist to pull his hand away from the spot. "As good as that feels, you don't want me worked up too soon."

"Why not, when I can just hold you at the edge and watch you writhe? the Seeker replied, though he /_did_/ stop at the request. He took Ratchet's hand in his own, though, and grasped the other as well, pinning them above the medic's helm as he leaned over him to devour his lips with Thundercracker's own, his frame pressing down just hard enough on the smaller mech's shivering form.

Thundercracker's grip on his sensorladen hands had him crying out loudly, intensity shooting down his arms and over his frame. Luckily, Thundercracker's lips covering his just as the cry started might serve to make him think it was just the kiss. Hand play was nice, but frag it he was putty in a mech's servos when they found out.

Thundercracker moaned in response, pressing just a bit harder, kissing him harder because it seemed as though Ratchet liked this, liked being pinned to the berth and have someone kiss the spark out of him. His lips moved and his glossa slid out, requesting entrance, coaxing its counterpart to come and play as well. TC liked kissing even though it was said that 'Cons didn't do soft scrap like that. His hands first tightened, then loosened their grip, his fingertip brushing along the palms and he shifted both wrists into one hand's grip, reaching down to cup the pert little aft and press it further into himself.

Ratchet groaned, trembling hands tightening around Thundercracker's to keep it from TEASING anymore. Primus slag it all, but now his vents were set on their highest setting and they'd barely started. He kissed back fiercely, trying to distract himself and the Seeker, rolling his hips in a circular motion in Thundercracker's grip.

"Never thought you would be quite like /_this_/." the Seeker murmured, successfully stifling the moan that wanted to slip out at the feeling of overheated plating next to his own. His wings quivered enticingly over them, almost like a canopy made of the sky, and TC purred again, pressing his panel right next to Ratchet's own and sending a light pulse of sonic energy through his frame into his lover's. "You have to tell me that you want me." he said, almost as if he were discussing the weather, almost as if he were completely unaffected...though his own frame proclaimed that a lie with a glance.

Ratchet arched and gasped sharply at the sonics pulsing through him and he trembled. "Primus take your spark, isn't that OBVIOUS?" He grunted through clenched denta.

"Maybe...but I find that I like to hear you ask me for it." He didn't use the word "beg"; he rather thought Ratchet's pride wouldn't care too much for that, even if that's what he was doing. The medic's responses, both physical and verbal, were sending TC himself into the red, and he'd had to cancel the automatic response to open his panel no less than three times. He caught the faint scent of Ratchet's lubricant and he moaned loudly, tailing one fingertip over the lower panel in a bid to get it open. He pulsed his sonics once more, even through his hand, and watched intently.

Ratchet yelped, valve clenching on nothing as his panel slid open with a click. He'd lost the battle of wills, but it didn't leave too much of a stinging mark. If he'd had use of his hands, Thundercracker wouldn't even be coherent right now. "Ask?" He snarked breathlessly.

"Ask, beg, plead, moan, cry out...all of that and more." the big blue Seeker said with a grin of satisfaction. The finger that had been tracing Ratchet's panel now traced the outer sensors of the medic's valve, knowing that this might well be a /_very_/ tight fit. He didn't mind that overmuch, but he wasn't going to /_hurt_/ Ratchet either. "If I release your hands, will you behave?" he asked softly.

"Yes!" Ratchet cried, bucking into that gentle touch as his pedes scrabbled for purchase against the ground. "Don't stop that!"

Thundercracker paused just for a moment, optics flaring, lips just a breath away from Ratchet's own. "Do you think to order me around?" he asked, low and dangerous, his fingertip gathering up the moisture that glistened on the rim of Ratchet's port meaningfully. "You forgot something." he continued, keeping his touches to the barest brush rather than doing as his body craved and just /_taking_/ Ratchet right here on this berth, frag anyone who walked in. He did release Ratchet's hands, though, using his now-free hand to balance himself over the smaller grounder.

Ratchet's hands shot to grip the mech's shoulders, anchoring himself. He rolled his hips again, trying to impale himself before whining when the pressure only decreased. "Don't you fragging stop, PLEASE!" He growled.

TC almost whimpered- the grip felt /_good_/, and the sound of Ratchet's voice, breaking over the plea was nearly too much. His own panel snapped aside and his spike slid up Ratchet's leg, though he didn't enter him yet. His fingertips did that instead, two at once, scraping along the sensor-laden walls and /_twisting_/ with a skill that showed long practice in stretching those who may be a bit small for his equipment. "I won't, then." he said, both as a promise and a threat. "But neither will I harm you. You are...smaller than I." he said seriously.

"I'm also smaller than Optimus." Ratchet panted after his cry tapered off.

Thundercracker raised an optic ridge. "Are you implying that you-" He couldn't quite finish that thought aloud.

"Yes, slaggit!" He snarled, riding Thundercracker's fingers rather eagerly by this point. His charge was building deliciously even as he craved for something more filling than two fingers.

"Interesting." TC murmured, right before he doubled the number of fingers that Ratchet was riding so nicely. "What would he say if he knew you were...cementing crossfaction ties in this way, I wonder? Something tells me that he wouldn't mind, overmuch..." He shrugged; that sort of talk could be for afterward, now was for driving the medic half-insane with his touch. Thundercracker smirked and took Ratchet's left hand in his own and gently nibbled at his first digit. "You thought I did not know of a medic's hands. They hold more sensors than my wings." he said gently before taking the entire finger between his lips, his other hand pumping steadily harder in and out of Ratchet's quickly heating valve.

Ratchet jerked with a shout, valve convulsing and squeezing around Thundercracker's fingers. Heat shout down his arm from Thundercracker's mouth infusing his frame with a spark deep shudder as he overloaded with a static laved sob. His optics were bled almost white and he thrashed, trying to simultaneously free his hand and push Thundercracker's fingers deeper.

The Seeker couldn't help the shudder that came over him- he'd never seen anything quite like that in his entire /_life_/. _*That was hotter than watching Starscream writhe on the bed while tied up.*_ Thundercracker said silently, his vents screaming at him to /_do something_/ already. Sucking a second finger into his mouth, he moved the fingers that had teased Ratchet's port and slid forward, the blunt tip of his spike pushing past the rim. He moaned loudly around the digits, wings snapping back to frame him, and his optics burned with desire.

The medic writhed, the stretch burning and feeling so pit slagging GOOD. "Oh!" He gasped as if surprised, right hand moving to grip tightly at the leading edge of the seeker's wing. "Oh Primus! More!"

Thundercracker's lips parted in a loud cry, the hand on his wing feeling slagging amazing. He thrust forward just a bit harder than he'd originally intended, the tight heat overwhelmingly good. His glossa tickled Ratchet's fingertips once more before he repositioned his hands on the medic's shoulders, still holding him firmly yet allowing him to touch, should he remain coherent enough to do so. He kept his pace steady, his control firmly in place for now, though it would be a near thing if he had to keep feeling the almost rhythmic squeeze, hear the impassioned cries. "Open wider." he growled, expecting to be obeyed.

"What?" Ratchet grunted, almost missing the command under the onslaught of pleasure bombarding him from his array.

Legs around my hips." Thundercracker said harshly, and he moved his hands just long enough to place ratchet's legs over his own hips, moaning at the change in angle. He moved faster, nipping rather sharply at a cable in Ratchet's neck, and his vents grew faster, the air filled with a strange /_something_/ that set TC's sensors to singing in anticipation. He groaned as he hilted himself just to grind their arrays together, his entire frame shaking.

"Ngh!" Ratchet grunted, freed hand gripping the back of Thundercracker's helm and tugging him down for a hard kiss as he twined his legs at the ankle. Primus, Thundercracker was good at this and his spike was exquisite.

TC allowed himself to be dragged into the kiss, giving just as good as he got, the thrumming in his chassis sending vibrations through them both. He could feel himself on the very edge of overload, but he wasn't going over until he'd given Ratchet another, preferably better than his last. He sucked on the medic's lower lip and moved back just enough to speak. "So /_pretty_/ under me, watching you writhe and twist and jerk and moan when I take you. You like this, don't you...being made to submit to another's touch, yet your own control does not allow you to let go with many. Hm. I will /_remember_/ this." he promised once more, his hips moving harder and faster with every word.

So would Ratchet but he was hardly coherent enough to speak it at this exact moment in time. He writhed and moaned and pleaded as his charge crept over his plating again to settle deeply in the pit of his tanks, making him burn with eager anticipation. He was close, so close, just a few more... "_THUNDERCRACKER_!" He shrieked, fingers digging into seams and his valve cinching snug around the large member impaling him.

He loved hearing his lovers cry out his name. He wasn't sure why, but it stuck him deep inside and made him arch forward, burying himself inside Ratchet with a whisper of the medic's own designation, not stopping his thrusts through the overload that brought the proud and irascible Ratchet down in its wake. The thrumming in the room suddenly broke and a loud noise came from the Seeker, blowing tools and materials off the cabinets onto the floor with a clatter and crash. He couldn't let go just yet- his frame felt hypersensitized, and he clutched the shuddering grounder to him in the aftermath.

Ratchet panted harshly, shuddering in Thundercracker's grip as his valve continued to squeeze around Thundercracker's spike with the tenseness of his frame. "Primus!" He whispered hoarsely.

TC laughed quietly. "Not quite." he said, teasing just a bit. he made sure not to rest all his weight on Ratchet, though he really didn't feel like moving yet, even though he could sense that Skywarp had fellt that almost as if he'd been present. His trinemate's grin was nearly visible from here.

"Oh quiet, you." He mumbled as his frame began to ping with cooling metal. He also felt every slagging inch of the spike still seated firmly within him. And his gestation chamber warmed perversely with Thundercracker's transfluid. "Get enough cheek from the mechs around here."

"You will survive it, I'm sure. What if it were Star who were here instead of Skywarp? However would you deal with it?" TC teased even more, shifting minutely...then hissing at the sensation. Skywarp giggled, yes, /_giggled_/ over their bond, giving TC the image of their trineleader on his knees, his lips quite occupied and unable to be used for speech.

"I don't think my audials could handle it." Ratchet made a face. "And I seriously doubt he would have... offered me this."

Thundercracker tilted his helm. "No. He probably would not have...but do not judge what you don't know, either. It is possible; he does respect traditional Seeker ways. You have lain with me, this is true, and now you know a little of me. Know more- I /_love_/ both him and Skywarp with all that is within me...and that love has been there for far longer than any tie to a silly faction." Thundercracker watched Ratchet, wanting to see his reaction to the admission.

Ratchet gave him an odd look before snorting and rubbing his helm awkwardly. "Suppose I walked into that one." He muttered, thinking of his own rather... unrequited love. "But if you-"

"Just because one loves someone does not mean that sharing pleasure with another is wrong. It is only wrong if you hide it, if you /_lie_/ about it." Thundercracker interrupted. He shifted out of the medic, laying on his side, his wings dangling half off the edge of the berth. "You look...troubled. Why is that?" he asked.

Ratchet grunted as Thundercracker pulled out, almost moaning the loss of the warm spike before he caught himself. "It's nothing. Not much you can do with it anyways. Just an old mech thinking."

"Untrue. I can listen. And perhaps be of more use than you think." TC said, unruffled. He held fast to Ratchet, waiting for him to speak.

Ratchet's mouth worked on the words, pride warring with the need to lift this from his shoulders. To be honest, as annoying as they could be, when they made the effort, the seekers COULD be pleasant company and he'd developed a sort of camaraderie with them. "I suppose..." He started hesitantly. "I'm a bit jealous."

"Jealous of what, our bond?" TC asked, wondering if that could be it. "I know that outsiders- non-Seekers- do not trine as we do. Do you not engage in regular partner bonds, though?" Thundercracker scowled. "It is believed to be the ultimate weakness for a Decepticon to bond his spark to another's."

"Partner bonds during a war on any side is stupid." Ratchet shook his helm. He couldn't count how many mechs he'd lost because of a bond. "But regardless, I'm old and that ship has sailed. Like I said... I'm a bit jealous."

The Seeker gave Ratchet an intent look. "Partner bonds." he said slowly. "They are not just /_something to do_/, not for us. They are...part of us and who we are. But you knew that, didn't you?" Thundercracker asked/said. "And you are wrong about being old, and the like. Do you know how old /_I_/ was when suddenly, two virtual /_younglings_/ came to turn my world upside down?"

"You do realize..." Ratchet began slowly with a close to humorous smile on his face. "That I am at least twice as old as you?"

TC shrugged. "You still live, don't you? Then it doesn't matter."

"I live in the middle of a war where I am the Autobots' most likely means of survival." Ratchet said slowly. "To fall in love and get bonded is not only stupid, it's risking something I can't risk."

"Again, I ask you- why not? If it is something that is worth it, then you would do it regardless...and the need and desire for closeness and even love is the best reason of them all." Unaccountably sappy? No, not really. There were no stars in Thundercracker's optics, no faraway lookx toward the room where Skywarp ay resting or even the Nemesis where his First lay alone. There was only acceptance and a belief that he was /_right_/ in this feeling. "You are the best medic on either side...and the most compassionate as well." TC noted. "That only tells me that you /_need_/ someone...or several someones...to help you with the feelings that you /_must_/ hold back, that you /_cannot_/ allow free reign while you treat the injured and dying."

Ratchet wanted so badly to believe those words. "You don't really get it, do you? EVERY mech comes under my servos at one point or another. I can't allow myself to have preference over one when someone else is in more need of my abilities." Then so low he could barely even hear himself. "Primus knows, Sunny and Sides can't keep their afts off a medberth for more than a slaggin' cycle."

"Every time Starscream must order either of us into a potentially dangerous situation, did you know that he is /_afraid_/ each and every single time, that he incessantly checks reports, that he literally cannot recharge and rest until he can physically /_see_/ that whoever it was that he sent into danger is /_safe_/? And that he feels only slightly less for /_any other Seeker_/?" Thundercracker is almost willing to bet his left wing that Ratchet did NOT, in fact, know this. Then what the medic really said hit him, and hit him hard.

"It is not a preference when it is a desire to keep your mates safe." he murmured, reaching out in much the same way as he would to Skywarp when Star had to be away, caressing the smooth white arm. "And...part of that is our fault, I suppose. They...fight /_us_/. And we fight back. Such is the nature of war." TC sounded sad at that.

Ratchet looked startled at Thundercracker's admission about Starscream, gobsmacked into silence for once in his existence. He couldn't even refute what Thundercracker was saying. He'd never have thought that the Air Commander gave a beaten tin frag about those under his authority. Sure, he'd care for his trine, but...

TC knew why Ratchet was staring, and he kept talking. "What's even worse, he can't even let anyone know why he is doing this. As you have said, bonds are a risk. The Winglord's bond to his people is nowhere near as intense as a true sparkbond, but he feels each and every Seeker that lives." Crimson optics blaze briefly. "And each who dies."

He calmed himself before continuing. "And it is I who helps him release that. I know of your twins, and their ways. Anger and chaos. Do you not think that they too deserve the comfort that may come from being close to one who cares? That they may love you too for who you are, not as the medic that saves their lives, but as the mech whose /_own_/ life and joy in living is renewed just by wrapping himself in a bond, the bond that was given us by Primus to join in this way?"

Ratchet's vents hitched slightly, Thundercracker's words something he's repeated to himself over and over again in some hope he could make them be true. His optics turned down. "And if I fall, who's there to help the Autobots? First Aid? He's too new. Hoist can't do it on his own, Swoop is still too new as well. Tying myself to someone will only bring the very real reality of the Autobots standing little to no chance. And that isn't vanity... it's fact."

"What you should hope for is an end to this insanity." the Seeker said seriously, staring into crystal-blue optics to gauge his reaction to what was treason to his own cause.

Ratchet snorted. "You're very lucky Soundwave and his little goons don't usually raid my medbay. And I hope for it every slagging day. But Optimus is too soft sparked to offline Megatron permanently and none of the rest of us can take him head on. The twins have tried, Jazz has tried, IRONHIDE has tried..."

"Star can't.' Thundercracker said, almost too softly to be heard. He didn't seem willing to explain that one anyway. "I have never...Skywarp is loyal, yet I am trying to make him see that things are /_not_/ as they were intended. That your Prime would never perpetrate the crimes of his predecessors. If you indeed are as old as you say, then you /_know_/. You know why the Seekers abandoned neutrality and took a side."

"Honestly? I don't." Ratchet shrugged. "You have to understand... I didn't join the war until much, much later. And it took me even longer to climb the ranks... And that was on chance luck alone." Ratchet didn't really want to go into that at the moment.

"The Senate." With these words, Thundercracker's grip on Ratchet increased just slightly, and his tone took on an edge that had been absent this whole discussion. "They wanted us flightless. They claimed that it took too much fuel to fly, and so they attempted to ration us down to nothing...below what would be required for even a short flight around Vos. Naturally, our leader at the time objected. That was...and still /_is_/, Starscream. He is our Winglord." The Seeker paused. "To us, I suppose the title is somewhat like that of Prime, though Star certainly claims no tie with his predecessors, nor any guidance from Primus. He isolated Vos from the rest of Cybertron, and for quite some time we survived and even prospered. Yes. we rationed...but we maintained flight, because to do otherwise would be the death of our kind."

TC stiffened as he told the rest. "Sentinel Prime objected. He claimed that Vos was stockpiling fuel to make war upon the rest of the world...and as Seekers are created for war, with less volition than your average drone to the common optic, it was believed. They called for us to be brought low, and brought low we were." The Seeker grew impossibly sad.

"They started with the creches."

Ratchet was horrified at what he was hearing, hands gripping tighter. He'd never liked Sentinel Prime, the slagger more of an arrogant puppet than anything else. He also knew well enough that the War had had a PURPOSE in the beginning. Before, he surmised, Megatron went off the deep end. Humans and their useful idioms. "Creches?"

"Where the seekerlings awaited the return of their creators while they worked." Thundercracker's tone was distant and cold, still angry over this so many vorn later. So many lives lost forever. "Starscream has never truly recovered from that- imagine, if you would. Say you could sense each and every Autobot within your spark, not as a bond, but as a presence. Then eighty-five percent of them dies screaming- weaponsfire, crushed alive by collaping towers, perhaps even by the bare hands of those who proclaimed that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Tell me, Ratchet, how sane would you be after this?"

"Stop." Ratchet said hoarsely, shoving his hand over Thundercracker's mouth. His own imagination, fueled with real life experiences of other younglings he'd never been able to save or even sparklings dying in his servos, served Thundercracker's images very well. He shook in the seeker's grip. "Just stop."

"I think you see." TC said. "But you don't know all of it. After we joined Megatron's cause...which initially was for /_equality_/, not for world domination, he sought to own Starscream, and by extension, the Seekers. He gave our Winglord over to his pet scientist for an entire orn, and when he was returned to us..." Thundercracker looked like he wanted to hurt something, or break something. "He couldn't act, not seriously, against Megatron. He can't deny him anything. It's in his core programming, and in that includes a stricture that keeps him from modifying it himself. His arrogance remains, but it's a hollow shell. I have to keep him from harming himself at times when it gets truly bad." TC glances at his one-time lover. "You wonder why I worry more about him than Skywarp, I am sure."

Ratchet didn't even know how to RESPOND to that. The thought alone made him feel like purging everything in his tanks and he pressed a hand over his own mouth just to avoid doing that. Someone should never... NEVER alter core programming. It was wrong, it was a violation worse than spark rape. It went against everything they were as a species. And that it had been SHOCKWAVE of all mechs to do it... no wonder Starscream was so fragging crazy!

Thundercracker can sense the hesitation in Ratchet's frame. "It is all true, if that's what you're wondering." he says almost bitterly. "I would not make such accusations if it weren't."

"Primus..." He whispered, horrified. The sound was thick in his voice. "Dear Primus."

"I wish he could be returned to how he once was, before his rebellion was taken from him." Thundercracker remarked. There was a lot of hurt in those dark red optics, and resignation in his tone. "It's probably been too long, though. If he could...then perhaps we could return to what we once were. The Seekers would not be ruled by a madmech, someone who does not know the song of wind as it resonates through one's systems. We could be as we were meant to be- protectors of those weaker than ourselves. It is not just sparklings we are drawn to watch over- it is anyone who needs it. /_That_/ was our original purpose...and not many know that. Those who do know are resistant to truth or simply don't care. I do know this- I want my Star back, and I will do much to ensure that that happens."

Ratchet could hear the absolute desolation and hurt in Thundercracker's voice and his processor (as well as his spark) raced. What if Starscream COULD be returned to how he supposedly was? What if they could... They could WIN this war with the Seekers on their side, but it was gaining Starscream's alliance that would be the deal breaker there. "I... I don't know for certain if it's possible, but... I think, and I don't ... please don't get your hopes up, but it's POSSIBLE I can help."

Thundercracker rose up slightly. "Do not tell me this if it isn't true." he said warningly, hope rising within his spark despite himself. He /_knew_/ better, hope was worse than love when it came to weaknesses that could break a mech. "Skywarp is my brother. I love him dearly. But Starscream is..." TC didn't finish that thought; he rather thought it was obvious by now.

"I said POSSIBLE." Ratchet reiterated. "I don't know 100%. I'm a medic, not a coder... You'd need Wheeljack or Perceptor for coding."

"I will speak to whoever I must." Thundercracker said, dead serious. "I...don't know all the details, but I /_do_/ know what it has done to him, the effects. If the chance exists that he can be...returned to /_himself_/, then I will take it...even if he hates me for it later." His wings drooped slightly at that. "He'll never be how he was before Vos fell. I am not idealistic enough to think that that would be the case. But the coldness,the inability to express softer feelings...and his drive to succeed and overtake Megatron...that would come back, and I know that with us at his side, he could do it."

"I said I'd help, you don't need to make me feel worse than I already do." Ratchet snapped slightly, Thundercracker's grip almost too tight now.

"I was not intending to make you feel worse." Thundercracker said, loosening his grip a bit. Skywarp was long in recharge, having gotten bored some time ago with the conversation. This closeness...it wasn't what TC wanted, not exactly, but it was still good, and he felt that it had done them both some good to come together in this way. "I will have to force him to come, you realize this. He does not believe anything was done."

"Most don't." Ratchet hummed thoughtfully. It... hadn't been the first case. Prowl was a classic example, though the battle computer had integrated far too long ago to be able to do anything about it. Though now, Prowl realized there had been something done to him. He'd come to terms with it, thankfully, but it'd still been difficult from what Smokescreen recounted. The Twins were another. Sunstreaker had long figured out that there was an off dynamic between them, but Sideswipe still lived blissfully ignorant of anything done to his programming. Another case he couldn't fix. Was he wrong to offer this hope to Thundercracker only to fail again?

"He will be angry, he will make threats. I can contain him, though. Star still listens to me when he will heed no one else." Thundercracker hesitated, not sure if he should reveal the last bit of information to the medic or not. He shrugged inwardly and looked him in the optics. "And possibly you can use me to help. We...Star and I...our bond is not simply the bond of trinemates. We sparkbonded back before the war. It's not strong, it hasn't been renewed in vorns...but it's still there." TC paused. "Star doesn't remember it. He thinks it's the trine bond, and that Skywarp is not as sensitive as I am." If Megatron knew this, he would have Thundercracker deactivated. Both as an example, and because he dare thought to have a claim on what the tyrant had publically claimed as his.

"I'm not going to manipulate a bond." Ratchet said sharply.

"It isn't manipulation when it's offered." TC returned, arching an optic ridge. "And if it is the only way to reach him..."

"You're giving me permission, sure, but will Starscream? Given his frame of mind, I think not. It's still manipulation." Ratchet glared. "And I won't do it."

"No, he likely wouldn't. He would probably deny the existence of a bond in the first place." Thundercracker admitted. He sighed, feeling suddenly exhausted. "You care. You know how it feels to put another's safety and happiness before your own, even if it /_is_/ the Twins." He held up a hand with a smile, making sure the medic knew he was only teasing. "If we can do this...and I /_will_/ do this if only to ensure Starscream's repairs, then perhaps your objections to a relationship with those /_you_/ care for will vanish with the war."

"Maybe." Ratchet conceded guardedly. Aside from the reason he'd... never told them or that they most likely wouldn't WANT an old codger like himself.

"Maybe my aft. Or..." Thundercracker actually smiled slightly. "You haven't told them, have you."

Ratchet's face heated and he snapped his mouth shut, grinding his denta together. His gaze remained fixed on Thundercracker's chassis, refusing to move.

"I see." TC grinned, the look on his face entirely too reminiscent of Skywarp for comfort. He did give Ratchet a serious look, though. "I...will ensure that the twins are as safe as they can be from Skywarp, Star, and myself. I can't guarantee anything, especially should they try and rip my wings off /_again_/, but I will try. For your sake."

"I would ask why, but I suppose at this point it would be redundant." Ratchet said tightly, his embarrassment still acute.

"What, why they attempted to relieve me of my wings? Or why I care?" the Seeker asked, giving Ratchet a perceptive look.

"That second one."

"Because you have offered to do what no one else has yet offered in all these vorn. Because you, for some reason, recognize the great wrong that has been done to us as a people. Because..." Thundercracker looked directly into Ratchet's optics, certain of this. "Because you yourself care whether you admit it to others or not."

Ratchet huffed, working on his next words as he thought them out. "I'm not the only one."

The gaze remained fixed on Ratchet as the Seeker said not a single word.

Ratchet sighed. "Please stop staring at me like that."

"Why?" Thundercracker asked, fighting off a smile. Skywarp would be proud, he decided.

"Because I said so." Ratchet growled.

"Do I follow your orders now?" Oh, that grin was just /_itching_/ to come out in full force.

The medic could feel it building, the irritation that came so naturally to him and his left optic twitched for a moment. "Do not get cheeky with me, youngling."

"Youngling." Thundercracker said, well and truly able to keep up with /_this_/ particular game. Snark had not always been second nature to him, but he'd been trined with, and close to, Starscream for /_far_/ too long not to become eminently comfortable with throwing it back almost as fast as it came at him.

The fact that he could keep a straight face through it all usually drove Star to distraction; he wondered if Ratchet would react the same way.

"So you like younglings, is it?" he asked, deadpan. The inflection on the word 'like', combined with their position, made it clear what he meant.

Ratchet gaped at him for several long moments before the atmosphere of doom (as Sideswipe termed it) set in and his armor puffed out in affront. Not three seconds after that, a large, reverberating clang echoed in the large bay, Ratchet's favorite (and most heavy duty) wrench in his hand.

Thundercracker's expression finally changed, though it wasn't to a smile. A pained wince marred his handsome face, and he gave the medic a wary look. Still, he couldn't resist one last barb.

"Ouch, no /_wonder_/ you like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, you're all the same, so fragging /_violent_/!"

An incoherent sound of frustrated (and more than a little self righteous) anger left Ratchet's throat and he shoved his digits into Thundercracker's shoulder seam to tug (none too gently) at his motor cables. The seeker's grip weakened and he wedged a pede between them to kick him off the berth so he could close up and roll off the other side.

"You can go and join you fragging flitterglitched trinemate and leave me the frag alone!" Ratchet was, to borrow a human term, /_pissed_/ and it showed.

The Seeker landed on the floor, rather stunned, stunned enough that he didn't catch himself and landed rather painfully on his left wing. He hissed out a curse and stared.

"What did I say?" he asked somewhat stupidly. He replayed his words, and wondered if it had happened again, that someone had taken his rather flat delivery as him being /_serious_/...

"I meant no offense." he said softly, his wings positioned to echo the sentiment. An odd feeling of dread hit him- would he rescind his offer to help, now? Thundercracker hoped with all his spark that he would not. "I was...trying and failing, to make a joke. A poor one, it seems. My...my apologies." He rose from his seated position, his energy field very confused, his wing stinging from the hard landing.

"Some joke!" Ratchet ground out, returning to the sink and ignoring the state of his frame as he continued cleaning his tools rather agitatedly. "First you imply I'm a pervert and then you feel as if you can insult my comrades knowing full well by now how I feel about them!"

"I wasn't implying that you were a pervert." He very prudently did not point out that perversion, like much else, was largely a creation of narrow minds. "I also wasn't insulting them. At least, I didn't intend to."

"Then you are just naturally an idiot." Ratchet growled.

"Skywarp calls me socially clueless." Thundercracker replied, feeling a bit insulted now himself. He paused, remembering. "And Star put it as "hopelessly inept when it comes to reading others."

Ratchet snorted his agreement, not quite willing to forgive the seeker for his thoughtless words. They'd stung more than he wanted to admit.

He had to ask, even as much as it made him feel...weak and /_pathetic_/ he had to know. "You...will not go back on your offer?" he said, and he hated himself in that moment for the tone in his voice. It was laced with desperation and need, and those were two /_more_/ emotions that he wasn't supposed to have.

Ratchet stiffened and flared over his shoulder at him. "Are you implying I'm a liar as well."

"No, I am implying that you are upset with me, and in my experience those who are angry generally do not help others." he shot back, feeling unaccountably annoyed. "Generally speaking, I am surprised that I am not back in your brig considering how angry I believe you to be." The Seeker's wings twitched and he flinched at the thought of being locked in a windowless cell.

"I'm about to just banish you to your ICU room again!" He set his tool down heavily, thoroughly INSULTED to be compared to the Decepticons when he'd worked hard to gain the Seeker's trust and show he wasn't.

The blue wings stiffened minutely and he gave the tool a long glance, figuring that it wasn't aerodynamic enough to be tossed at his helm. "Forgive me my worries; I am not used to being able to trust people to do as they say, no matter what. The only one I have been able to trust, fully, is myself- Sky's loyalty and refusal to /_see_/ what is blinds him, and Star /_can't_/, not anymore." In defiance of the impending banishment, he sat down in a chair, chin resting on his hand, staring at the floor.

Ratchet groaned in frustration, now eyeing the seeker with a glower. "You just can't let me be angry can you?"

Thundercracker shrugged. "I control no one's emotions. I barely control my own...and I am learning that it is safe for me to express them here, at least, even if they are not popular." He looked up, biting his lip, and he shook his head as if to banish something.

Ratchet scowled at him. "Just what did you think Optimus would instill in his people?"

"You forget that my experience with a Prime is that of his predecessor...and the propaganda spread by Megatron. He claims that your Prime wishes to reinstate the old ways, to keep war mechs downtrodden and one step removed from slavery. To one not exposed to it, it's simple enough to believe. When one is immersed in a belief system cycle in and cycle out you believe it as a defense...or you go mad trying to rebel against it." He lets out a gasp rather against his will, and his expression is that of someone in pain.

Ratchet was immediately focused on him, scanner whipping out of his subspace. "Where does it hurt?"

Thundercracker shook his helm. "It's not me, that isn't going to do you any good." He forced his expression to remain impassive, just as he had far too many times before. Still, his wingtips shivered.

"Starscream." Ratchet could easily make the connection. He didn't have a capture not kill on his helm for nothing. And given everything Thundercracker had revealed, it was easy to figure it out.

The blue Seeker nodded rather quickly, the effort to hold back his emotional responses easy for Ratchet to read. "I need to get to him." Thundercracker said, his hands clenching and unclenching. "He'll /_kill_/ him one of these times, or force him into feeling as though his only release is to do it himself." His voice dropped, just low enough to hear. "I don't worry for my own life. I don't have a life, not anymore. And I won't have one until I free myself...and my /_mate_/, and my brother...from a faction that's been dying since its inception."

"Wish there is more I could do. Optimus 'negotiates' with Megatron tomorrow. And that's supposed to be classified so you don't get to say I told you anything."

Thundercracker nodded once, distracted. "I am going to try to support him...if he will let me." he said. "I...am going back to the room." He looked up, hope in his gaze despite his programming screaming at him for daring to succumb to such a weak emotion. "Thank you." Two /_more_/ words that Decepticons rarely spoke.

Ratchet blinked, his irritation all but melted away now. "You're welcome." He shrugged. "And not a word of what you heard tonight or so help me I'll dismantle you and make a slagging go kart out of you!"

"A flying go-kart, I do hope." was Thundercracker's only reply, a ghost of a grin touching lips drawn taut from worry and stress.

"Of course not. That takes the joy out of the threat." Ratchet snorted. "Go. Get some rest. I'll come check on you come the on cycle."

Thundercracker nodded once more. "I don't know if I will be able to recharge but I will try." he said, being truthful. "He needs me." He gave the medic a significant look before entering the room where his wingmate recharged, blissfully unaware of most of what had gone on...Thundercracker would make Skywarp see as well, somehow. He had to. Another wave of _pain/fear/disgust_ overtook him, and his tanks, now filled with decent fuel, roiled and twisted.

_Oh, Starscream..._

_I hate myself as much as I hate him. _Starscream thought viciously, standing at the doorway to his leader's quarters as ordered. The thought of disobeying had never crossed his mind; for one, the safety of his trine was at stake. Megatron has insinuated that he'd leave them to the mercies of the Autobots if Starscream didn't capitulate. The Air Commander's wings were held low, both in submission and in self-loathing, and when the door opened he strode into the room as if he owned the place, false bravado his only shield against what he knew was coming.

The Seeker noticed something right off the bat- Megatron wasn't alone, and that in itself was unusual for their 'times' together. The entire Stunticon gestalt sat in hastily-gathered chairs, their postures indicating an emotional gamut that ran from interested to flat-out bored. Dead End, in fact, seemed to be staring at the Seeker with a look that almost indicated that he felt sorry for Starscream, and the SIC scowled in return- he certainly didn't need that fatalist's, or anyone else's, pity!

"Why are /_they_/ here?" he asked the warlord, disrespect evident in his disdainful tone.

Megatron slid cold red optics over his second in command...worthless glitch that he was, almost more trouble than he was worth. At least he wasn't hard to look at...providing he kept his mouth shut, or someone shut it for him. "Silence yourself." he ordered, and Starscream's jaw snapped shut as if closed by an external force.

"I have brought you here to show you mechs who are /_not_/ a big a failure as yourself. In the raid where your idiotic trinemates managed to get themselves captured, Motormaster and his team retrieved the fuel you currently consume. They did so without any outside aid, defeating a team of Autobots without even having to combine to do so." Megatron grinned, and it wasn't a reassuring smile in the least. Starscream felt his spark grow cold, and he forced his wings to remain in position.

"Is there a point to this?" he asked, almost bored, and Dead End literally winced at his words.

"The point is that you have failed where they did not...and Motormaster has earned himself a reward for his exemplary service to the Decepticon cause." Megatron watched Starscream's expression intently, because he knew that his Second was no fool.

Starscream felt as though he wanted to purge, and he stared with disgust at the truckformer who grinned salaciously at the Seeker. "I'll kill him if he even thinks to touch me." Starscream cried, cycling power to his null rays defensively. Megatron stood and moved faster than a mech his size had any right to move, grasping the Seeker's arms in a denting grip, wrenching and tearing the weaponry loose from Starscream's arms before they had gathered enough power to stun.

"Get- _stop_..." Starscream said, trying to pull away. His spark whirled in his chest, a feeling of panic threatening to overwhelm him. The restraint /_hurt_/, and it hurt even more when his null rays were torn from his frame, their connections ruined and in need of rebuilding. Motormaster watched the display almost hungrily, licking his lips, and crazy little Wildrider shrieked in joy.

"Have fun, Boss, hear the Screamer's a /_hot_/ little piece!"

"No, I refuse, you can't do this to me..." the Air Commander babbled, the fear and pain strangely mitigated by...something within him. His trine bond, it had to be, and he considered damping it down as best he could to spare the others what would certainly be a painful and degrading experience.

"I /_do not_/ consent to this." Starscream spat, wings trembling, and Megatron actually laughed.

"You little fool, do you think that your /_consent_/ is something I even /_care_/ about? Motormaster, do as you will...but I want to watch." Starscream gave Megatron a look filled with despair, hurt, and even a slight bit of betrayal- his loyalty, repaid like /_this_/. To be given as a toy to a favored mech, and to be watched for entertainment while taken against his will.

"Gonna enjoy this, an' I might even like it more if you fight back." Breakdown actually shuddered at that statement from his team leader, and he silently thanked Primus that it wasn't him this time. Drag Strip leaned against the wall, looking at nothing, burnishing his digits with a polishing cloth. He looked bored as the Pit, and like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

Dead End watched, though one could not tell through the visor that he wore.

Starscream retreated into his own mind once more, because he was under the impression that that space alone was sacrosanct, that no one could breach his thoughts. His shields were too strong for Soundwave to break through, and no one else could crawl into a mech's processor and live there, slogging through memories and emotions as if they were nothing more than puddles of leftover slag. There, he was safe.

In his mind, the hands touching him harshly were not the hands of a truckformer who was performing for his lord as well as sating his own violent pleasures. He could feel the far too faint presence of Thundercracker in his spark, though Skywarp, as usual, was absent. The link just wasn't as strong with Warp, Starscream knew, and it was always Thundercracker who was with him in times like this.

His wings weren't supposed to bend that way. His legs weren't meant to be spread quite that widely, and his left arm was wrenched out of its socket by an uncaring Wildrider who helped his 'boss' restrain the Seeker for his maximum use and pleasure. He allowed his frame to react as they wanted him to- the shrieks of pain and even anger, threats of violence and promises of a messy deactivation were the norm for Starscream, yet inside he felt cold. Cold and dead, despite Thundercracker's emotional support, his claim that he would take this on himself just to spare Starscream if he could. He tried to send his trinemate a fervent denial, that TC didn't deserve this...it was Starscream who did, because /_he_/ was the failure, but that fled in the face of the searing pain that came when Motormaster shoved himself into the much smaller Seeker without any warning.

Mercifully, Starscream let out a shriek of agony before passing out.


	7. Chapter 7

_Have you ever had an idea gnaw at your mind and not go away until you sat there and actually wrote it? That's why you, my faithful readers, are receiving an early and quick update to Trine. *pant pant pant* This all came out at ONCE, today, and I think I did okay with it. I honestly hope you guys agree. Thanks so much for the reviews and follows and favorites; it's feedback like that that helps give me the self-esteem to keep putting my crap up in public. __

_Warnings for this chapter: Character death (non-canon), rather graphic descriptions of injuries, nongraphic mention of interface, mentions of noncon_

_Pairings: TC/Star, Hook/Bonecrusher (Structi lovin?)_

_Special: I borrowed Katea-Nui and I's joint OC, Eclipse, for my story just because. :D_

_Disclaimer: Only thing I own are the OCs and the dirty mind. xD_

* * *

He knew nothing, felt nothing...and that, at least, was a blessing from Primus in and of itself. Starscream lay in stasis lock, sprawled on one of Hook's medbay berths completely unaware of his predicament and condition.

The Constructicon eyed the Seeker with a sour frown- this was almost pointless, this task to rebuild the SIC. But Megatron had ordered it, and everyone knew the results of garnering the Slagmaker's displeasure.

If, for some reason, they needed a reminder, they could always come and see Starscream as he was now.

One arm was completely loose from its socket, dangling by wires and cabling. The other arm was intact, except for the crushed fingers. Each had been shattered with an odd precision that made Hook wonder just who had done it- this wasn't Megatron's usual 'punishment'. The flier's wings were bent out of shape, one torn halfway off; the other had a dozen dents indicating that someone with large hands had gotten a bit too grabby. Hook snorted and tapped his datapad; the findings had to be a part of the official record, after all.

Starscream's legs and thrusters seemed to be mostly okay, but for the fluid stains- that could be cured with a trip to the washracks. On a second look, though, Hook swore under his breath- the Seeker's tensioner cabling at his knees had been sliced clean through. He would not be walking until it was replaced and reintegrated.

Hook then turned to where the worst damage was, and it was then that he began to feel a bit sorry for Starscream. The Seeker's inner thighs were dented, yes...dented and scratched and gouged in places. His interface panels were gone, though, revealing a spike housing that had been cunningly smashed to prohibit the release of the Seeker's spike. His valve...it didn't even look like a valve anymore. It was an energon-encrusted opening with ragged edges, still leaking energon and what appeared to be transfluid.

Hook had seen many injuries in his long, long life, as well as many atrocities. He'd committed some himself. When he looked at the ruin of Starscream's interface array, though, he felt sick. His optics flashed behind his visor and he could feel the concern from his gestaltmates through their bond. He firmly told them to mind their own business and closed the bond to a trickle before they, too, saw what he was seeing.

Starscream was blissfully unaware, though, lost in memories. Perhaps it was better that way...

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

_Many vorns in the past..._

"_Lord Starscream, I have important news for you." the messenger said, and Star looked over his shoulder, a test tube in his hand. "Do you /mind/, I'm trying to finish something here!" he groused, noting that the mech's symbol indicated that he was part of the Winglord's personal guard. Starscream wondered what his creator wanted /this/ time._

_Skyfire quickly put down the datapad he was perusing and took the tube from Starscream. "Star, listen to him. I'll finish this." Starscream gave his best friend and lover a quick smile before nodding, gesturing to the messenger to come to the far end of the lab so as to not disturb the processes._

_As soon as they made their way to the opposite side of the room, the messenger bowed again before speaking. Starscream raised an optic ridge at the overly formal gesture, but he didn't ask questions. He just wanted to get back to his experiment. _

"_My lord, your presence is required at the Spire." he said deferentially._

_Starscream scowled. "You can tell old Shatterquake that I'll come when I'm finished. I'm not a youngling to be ordered about any longer, and he needs to realize that."_

"_My lord Starscream, it concerns Lord Shatterquake. It pains me to be the one to deliver this news, but...Lord Shatterquake was deactivated in an accident not two joor ago."_

_Starscream almost started to tell the messenger that he couldn't give a frag less when what he /said/ penetrated his meta. "Lord Shatterquake is /what/?"_

_The messenger clearly looked uncomfortable. "My lord, I am not certain of the details. There are those at the Spire who know more than I..."_

_Starscream trembled slightly. There was no love lost between him and his creator, but for a very long time, Shatterquake had been all he had. His carrier Dawnstar had deactivated long ago, leaving the Winglord of Vos with a youngling he didn't really know how to deal with. A succession of tutors and surrogates followed, most of which were put off by little Starscream's incisive comments and startling intellect, even at a very young age. They had been largely alone, and even though they didn't /like/ each other much, Starscream still respected his creator both as his Winglord and as a parent. The creator/creation bond wasn't as strong as some, for he hadn't sensed Shatterquake's demise, but when he thought on it and concentrated, there was an empty place in his spark where his creator once was._

"_'Fire, I have to go." he called, his voice flat and emotionless. The shuttleformer looked at Starscream with concern and stride over to him. "Do you want me to-" _

"_No, Skyfire. I have to do this myself." Starscream said, though he privately thought that the could use the support. Skyfire wasn't precisely welcomed in the Spire, though, and Starscream didn't need to deal with /that/ on top of everything else. _

_Skyfire nodded. "Comm if you need me, Star. Always here for you." Skyfire bent down to kiss Starscream on the cheek, and the messenger cleared his intakes in discomfort. Star shot him a dirty look and hugged Skyfire. "I'll be back when I can." The shuttleformer nodded and released Starscream, who turned and left with the messenger, his mind filled with questions._

_x.x.x.x.x.x._

_When he arrived and entered the room where his creator lay, his frame grey with death, Starscream nearly purged. An accident, it was said. The accident must have involved his creator running face-first, while in root form, into a wall at his greatest speed from the looks of him. His head was all but obliterated, his wings dangling on by threads of fiber-optic cabling and wires, and the rest of him didn't look much better. Starscream bit his lip and turned to the medical staff. "What in the name of the blazing pits of Kaon happened to him?" he demanded._

"_Lord Starscream, from all accounts, the late Lord Shatterquake lost control of his transformation sequences, propulsion, and flight controls simultaneously. It was nothing more than an accident." the medic said, his hands spread wide._

"_Pitscrap." Starscream shot back. "There is no way that those three potentially fatal errors could occur simultaneously unless someone /engineered/ them to fail." Who had killed his creator and why?_

"_There was no evidence of tampering, my Lord. None whatsoever. It could have been caused by many things- an innate glitch, a power surge in his frame, his advanced age...any of that could cause system failures. You know this." The medic looked as if he truly believed what he was saying- Starscream could see that his wings proclaimed truth and sorrow at all this. He looked at Starscream and whispered something, and the young Seeker whipped his head around. "What was that?"_

"_So young, you are, to take on the burden."_

_Starscream frowned quizzically. "What burden are you referring to?"_

_The medic sighed. "Didn't anyone /tell/ you?"_

"_Tell me what? Stop being so slagging cryptic!"_

"_You are to undergo the Making in two joor's time." The medic gave Starscream a reassuring smile. "I will be there to assist, of course, and-"_

_Starscream froze. The Making? /He/ would be Winglord? That...he /couldn't/...Skyfire's mission.../his own/ mission... "No. No one asked me, and I refuse. I have a life to live, and an expedition into deep space planned in a decacycle. I refuse the Making." Starscream said somewhat petulantly._

"_You cannot refuse. It's in your coding." The medic sounded shocked. "Lord Shatterquake groomed you as his replacement since /before/ you separated from Dawnstar." _

_The mention of his carrier made Starscream wince; he barely remembered him, except for his gentle voice singing him to recharge during the long offcycles. "Don't I have choices in my life? This is /my/ life, not Shatterquake's! He's been trying to control that since I was /sparked/, and now he's STILL doing it even though he's dead!" Starscream said, his voice rising into that nasal screech that so many teased him for. _

"_Star, listen to him. Vos needs a strong leader, and even more, it needs a leader who /isn't/ as insular and closed-minded as Shatterquake was." Another Seeker walked in- she was a handsome teal and grey, and larger than most femme Seekers due to her armor. Eclipse nodded at the medic and wrapped her arms around Starscream in a hug. He hugged back- Eclipse had been like a creator to him for a long time now, and he took her words to spark when he'd ignore others._

"_You never did like him." Star muttered, and Eclipse shook her head. "No, I didn't. Your creator was an overblown aft, and more than once I told him that to his face so don't you look shocked over there, Triage." she said, both to the medic and to Starscream. _

"_What about my schooling? My expedition? Skyfire and I have been planning it for nearly a /vorn/, and we finally got approval and funding to do it!" _

"_Stop whining like a youngling and start looking for answers." Eclipse said, and Starscream had to smile. She never let him off easily, not even when he /had/ been a youngling. "I, personally, see no reason why you can't undergo the Making, and then go on your trip...providing you leave a qualified Regent to hold in your place while you're gone."_

"_They'll never allow that-"_

"_Starscream, how could they stop you if you're the Winglord?" Eclipse pointed out, and Starscream actually facepalmed. She was right, she was /so very/ right, and the idea made him laugh._

"_I still don't like being shoved into this." he said to no one in particular."And you'll be my Regent." he said to Eclipse, who snorted._

"_And here I thought that I'd quit politics vorns ago." she said, half-disgusted._

"_If I don't get a choice, you don't either." Star pointed out._

"_Winglord or no Winglord, I can still whip your aft into shape for being disrespectful to your elders, Starling." she said sweetly, and Starscream scowled at her use of the nickname._

"_Fine, fine." Starscream said, scowling. "Lady Eclipse, would you do me the honor of standing in my place as Regent while I am offworld?" he said, complete with an overdone bow. The femme started laughing, shaking her head in assent. "'S more like it and more the way I taught you."_

_Starscream stuck out his glossa at Eclipse just because he could._

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x._

"_All parties are present with the requisite witnesses." Triage announced, and Starscream could feel something very close to fear settle in his tanks. What went on during a Making? The ritual itself was secret, known only to those trained to perform it and those who underwent it. Naturally, it wasn't common knowledge; Winglords didn't get replaced every vorn. _

_Starscream had been led to a bench and told to sit and watch and listen, and he was doing his best to do just that. His wings were raised high in ambivalence, though, and his optics were bright. Curious though Starscream was, he just wasn't certain of this. Were they just going to confer a title upon him and let him go? Were there imagecaps involved? His mind raced with possibilities._

_He suddenly wished that he had a trine and then immediately regretted that, because he was with Skyfire. There could be no trine. _

_He started paying attention again, lest he miss something important. This was his /life/ now, after all. _

_There were only ten Seekers in the room, and Starscream recognized only three of them: Eclipse, Triage, and the old priest of Primus named Sparkfire. He looked at Starscream critically before offering him a single nod of respect. That surprised Starscream; he'd never been particularly religious, and his visits to the temple had always been perfunctory at best. _

_Oh, and Shatterquake's still form. It was also there, grey and dead upon a table that looked suspiciously like an altar. Star frowned- why did they need his creator's husk? It was more than a little grisly and he couldn't force himself to actually /look/ at Shatterquake for long. _

"_One has passed, and the time has come to bring a new Winglord into the song of the wind." Sparkfire intoned, and Starscream gazed at the priest, watching. "The bond a Winglord has with his people is inviolate and sacred; it cannot be torn asunder, nor can it be broken save by the death of he who holds it." _

_Bond? Oh /Pit/ no. Starscream stood, about to speak, and the priest stared him down, the look in his optics enough to quell even Starscream's legendary temper. Triage approached the husk of Starscream's creator and manually opened his chest, baring where his spark would have been if he were still alive. Starscream watched this, curious. _

_A very faint glow emanated from a place that Starscream was certain should have been darkened. His hand reached up, touching his lips, and he walked over to see exactly what the glow was. Was his creator actually alive? No, he couldn't be, not with those wounds, not with that trauma. _

_What was the glow?_

_Sparkfire spoke once more. "Young though he is, he is skilled. The people must /accept/ him or he will be rejected. The price of rejection is as it ever was."_

_Starscream stopped dead in his tracks. "And what is /that/?" he rasped, feeling more than a little weirded out by all this. It felt like an odd cult ritual, and Star wasn't sure that he liked it. _

"_If Vos does not accept you, then you will be cast out as unworthy." the priest said, and his tone was gentle. "The song of wind tears apart those who cannot master its nuances." _

_Starscream understood perfectly, and he felt vaguely ill at the thought. His tanks swirled uncomfortably, and his spark whirled in his chest. He stepped next to Triage to see what the medic was doing inside his deactivated creator's frame._

_Inside, where the spark would have been, lay a tiny fragment of light. It had no form or mass, and it seemed to be growing dimmer with every pulse of Starscream's spark, yet it existed. He stared at in wonder, the colors shifting too quickly to call it a single color. It was all shades at once, twisting and turning into something that was more beautiful than anything Starscream had seen in his entire lifecycle. He gasped, and something welled up inside him and he /reached/ for it...and the medic let him, for this is what was supposed to occur._

_The light hit Starscream and expanded, covering him with an aura that made him too bright to look upon. He felt as though he'd been gathered in the arms of every Seeker that was, all who lived. Forty-two thousand, eight hundred fifty two. That's how many Seekers lived, in Vos and elsewhere. Star hadn't realized they were so few, but he felt a strong sense of pride and solidarity, and that feeling was reinforced through the faint awareness of every other Seeker on Cybertron. The light examined Starscream, poking and prodding through his very being, and he felt something within himself expand and accept this burden/blessing, because it was then that he realized that /this/ is who he was meant to be. _

_Lord Starscream, Winglord of Vos._

* * *

It had been a very long night. Thundercracker couldn't recharge, not with Starscream's predicament- no, Thundercracker, call it what it is, his /_defilement_/, he thought- on his mind. Whenever he thought about it on more than a superficial level, he began shaking with rage. He wanted to kill them both- Megatron for setting it up, Motormaster for /_doing_/ it, and yet here he was, powerless and caught in the Autobot medical bay.

Thundercracker rose from the berth and hit the wall hard enough to dent it, which woke Skywarp rather rudely.

"Primus. TC, what the frag's gotten into you?" Warp whined, not yet noticing the look on his trinemate's face. "Was rechargin' pretty good for once-" Skywarp had just sat up and it was then that he saw TC's face. His optics blazed with anger, and his wings were held high, as if in preparation for battle. Skywarp could feel the excess sonic energy coalescing in the air around them and he rose, actually looking concerned for once. "TC, talk to me. What's wrong? One of the Bots frag you off?" He knew what had happened with Ratchet last night- frag, he'd felt some of it through the trine bond, and he approved even if he's never have done it himself.

"Star." Thundercracker replied succinctly. "I have to get him out of there." Skywarp frowned; usually it was always /_we_/. TC was sure acting possessive all of a sudden. "Megs beat him up again?" he asked, only somewhat sympathetic. Skywarp loved his trinemate like a brother, but he was under the firm impression that Star brought a lot of that on himself for disobeying orders and being a general aft to their commanding officer.

Thundercracker gave Skywarp a Look that spoke of pain and suffering, along with a touch of disgust at Skywarp's blind loyalty. That was something they didn't discuss- how much Skywarp trusted and even revered Megatron, despite what he did to their trineleader. It was then that Thundercracker carefully schooled his emotions and told his trinemate a lie. It was a lie of omission rather than an outright falsehood...but it was more than TC had done in a long time.

"He's just hurt, Sky, and I'm worried about him. Especially because we're stuck /_here_/."

Skywarp nodded distractedly, opening the door to their room to retrieve morning rations for them both. TC looked out of the open doorway and didn't see Ratchet- he supposed that the medic was taking some much-needed recharge. It was enough that Ratchet allowed them out of their isolation room and into the medbay proper- it showed that he trusted them not to make mischief, that he /_believed_/ their promise.

Thundercracker appreciated that quite a bit. It certainly helped alleviate the claustrophobia.

Skywarp returned with two cubes of fresh energon, and TC sipped at his slowly, savoring it. All too soon, he knew, they'd be back on the Nemesis consuming fuel that was barely enough to keep him functional.

"I can't feel him, TC." Skywarp said, frowning. He'd gulped his cube down in record time, not having the inclination or the patience to drink it slowly. "Don't like that at all. An' it's not like a /_recharge_/ can't find him, it's like he's offline or something." He gave Thundercracker a hasty look, waving a hand. "Not deactivated, just, like, knocked out."

Thundercracker decided to give Skywarp a bit more information. "He's in stasis lock, Warp."

Skywarp's optics grew wide. "/_**STASIS**_/ lock? The frag did he do to deserve somethin' like /_THAT_/?" Thundercracker shot his youngest trinemate a murderous glare at his insensitivity.

"Who's in stasis lock?" Ratchet had just entered the room, carrying a datapad.

"Starscream, apparently." Skywarp said, and Thundercracker could almost feel Ratchet's optics boring holes through his plating. "Guess he really fragged off Lord Megatron again, tried to off him or somethin', I don't know...you'd think he'd learn not to after the hundredth beating, but Stars, he's stubborn." Skywarp explained, and Thundercracker gave Skywarp an incredulous glare before turning on one thruster heel and exiting the room before he did something he'd regret forever.

Ratchet's cerulean optics fixed themselves on Skywarp. "No one, no matter what, deserves to be beaten by his superior officer. Punishment, I understand, but it makes no sense to continually slag your Air Commander for each and every thing that goes wrong. Skywarp, you have a lot to learn. Open your fragging optics and /_see_/ for a change." By the time Ratchet finished, he was nearly yelling. The black and violet Seeker was staring at the medic, optics almost comically wide, his wings trembling at the tips.

Ratchet turned and exited the room in much the same way as Thundercracker had, the door clicking shut behind him.

The blue Seeker had his back to Ratchet, his wings literally shaking, his hands holding on to the edge of a medberth tightly enough to dent the railing. "My own trinemate." Thundercracker said softly, knowing Ratchet was listening. "How can he be so blind?"

"Loyalty's like that." Ratchet said. "It can make you overlook things...and as you said, Skywarp doesn't see the things that you do. Starscream hides it from him, doesn't he?"

"...Yes." Thundercracker admitted. "He said it was to spare him. He tries to do it with me, but..." He shrugged one shoulder. Ratchet understood completely; Starscream couldn't stifle their sparkbond.

"He'll see one day, Thundercracker." Ratchet said, hoping that it wasn't a lie. He hesitated before speaking again, but he felt it was the right thing to do. "You could...retrieve him and come back here. Prime gives asylum even to high-ranked Decepticons if they truly wish to change. And if we had him here, Perceptor and Wheeljack and I can begin seeing about his processor."

Thundercracker turned around and faced the smaller medic, his wings now stiff with emotion. "I...Starscream would never become an Autobot. I am not certain that /_I_/ would ever become an Autobot either. The name is tainted with the fluids of thousands of Seekers, and I-"

"You don't have to take our oaths, doofus." Ratchet said acerbically. And Thundercracker wondered idly what a 'doofus' was. "You would just have to behave...much as you have been doing since you've been here, and not betray us to the 'Cons."

"It's that simple, is it?" TC said skeptically. "Nothing is /_that_/ easy."

"No, it wouldn't be easy." Ratchet said truthfully. "It would take a lot of work to get people here to trust you. You would have to earn that, and that's something nobody but you can do. You would likely be forced to give up your weapons, and for a time you would likely have to wear a constant monitor beacon." When he saw the look on Thundercracker's face at that, he gave the Seeker a falsely sweet grin. "Oh, can it, Seeker. At least you'd get to /_fly_/."

Thundercracker had to admit that that didn't sound all that bad. And Starscream might be safe...

"They wouldn't execute us for war crimes?" That was a very real worry; the Elite Trine had committed many, /_many_/ atrocities during the war in the name of the Decepticon Empire.

Ratchet sighed. "I can't guarantee any of this. The only person who can is Prime. I just know what our procedures are, and I feel I am honor-bound to put the idea out there." He gave Thundercracker a serious look.

"Thundercracker, you're /_not_/ a Decepticon. You may wear their sigil and fight their battles, but it's not in your spark to be as most of them tend to be- cold, ruthless killers who are hellbent on taking all that they can before leaving in a blaze of destruction. You're different. And I think you know that, and that's why you are the way you are."

"You have /_honor_/."

Thundercracker felt something well up in his spark at that- pride and determination. What Ratchet had said...it might be true. He wasn't certain yet, but the possibility existed.

He gave the medic a smile, a /_real_/ smile, and Ratchet returned it.

Skywarp, however, frowned deeply as he stood, watching and listening from the open door of their temporary quarters. He...didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Optimus Prime sat in his command chair, having commed the Nemesis just two kliks previously. Megatron was taking his sweet-aft time getting to the command center, Prime reflected. It just went to show how /_little_/ he cared for his people. The Seekers had been 'guests' of the Ark for five solar cycles now; if the situation had been reversed, Prime would have started negotiations upon realizing one of his mechs had been captured.

Finally, the viewscreen flashed on, revealing the visage of his nemesis. Bucket-Head certainly was an appropriate nickname; Megatron's helm /_did_/ look like one of those steel buckets the humans used for various projects.

"Ah, Prime. So /_good_/ to hear from you." Megatron sneered in his raspy voice. He never referred to Optimus by his given name, it was always Prime. Optimus wondered why that was, but he'd never gotten a satisfactory answer.

"Cut the false pleasantries, Megatron. I have two of your Elite Seekers."

"Elite /_fools_/, but yes, I would rather they be /_here_/ instead of /_there_/." the warlord said dismissively. "I suppose you actually /_want_/ something in exchange for them."

Optimus Prime steepled his fingers and sighed, keeping his temper in check. It was never easy to do with his brother...

"Unhindered usage of the spacebridge for a decacycle and a cease-fire for just as long." Prime said. It was a longshot, but he figured he'd better go high or go home. There was the off-chance that Megatron would agree to it, after all.

"You want /_what_/? Keep them at that price!" Megatron snarled, acting as if he were going to cut the comm. That behavior was /_very_/ familiar to Prime, though, so he just sat back and waited it out, his battle mask a blessing in times like these.

"Fine, we will." Prime shrugged. "The Aerialbots seem /_very_/ interested in the idea of your Seekers' attack patterns and specs...perhaps we can use that to upgrade our own air force." That was a calculated falsehood; Prime would never subject a prisoner to the kind of processor scan that that would require, and Megatron knew that /_he_/ wouldn't do it...but he also knew that Prime's head of Special Ops had /_no_/ such compunctions and would do it in a sparkpulse if it'd give the Bots an advantage that they so desperately needed.

Megatron actually snarled, getting more angry by the moment. The Seeker at the comm center (Dirge, if Prime remembered right) looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was, and even Soundwave had taken a few steps back, ostensibly to examine a console that was /_much_/ farther away.

"Both of your demands for an Earth week and not a nanoklik more." Megatron counteroffered, and Prime had to control his emotions very carefully. This was a lot more than he'd expected to get, and he couldn't afford to seem /_too_/ eager.

He wasn't letting this get away, though, so he made his decision. He nodded firmly at Megatron. "Deal accepted. When and where do you want your mechs?"

"Meet me at the salt flats in exactly one joor." Megatron said, glaring at the Prime. "The cease-fire begins the moment that my Seekers are returned to me."

Optimus nodded again; that sounded fair, more fair than he expected. Still, he'd be on his guard. He himself would escort the fliers along with a hand-picked team of mechs.

"I have much to do to prepare for this. Optimus Prime out." he said, cutting the comm before Megatron had a chance to speak again. Prime didn't want to hear the mech's voice again; he was getting a massive processor-ache already.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

"All right, you two. Clear out. Prime's taking you to go back to the Nemesis in a few." Ratchet called out, rousing Skywarp from a brief nap and Thundercracker from staring out the window. The need to fly was almost palpable, and he knew that he'd be airborne soon due to Ratchet's words.

Both Seekers exited the room and were surprised to see Ratchet holding four cubes of energon, two for each of them. "Drink up. I'm not gonna be accused of starving you two while you were here." he said gruffly, and Thundercracker had to smile at that. Skywarp, true to form, merely gulped both down and dispersed the fields without a second thought...or a word of thanks. Thundercracker gave his trinemate a withering look that Skywarp didn't register and he turned to Ratchet.

"Thank you, Ratchet. For everything." he said, meaning every single word.

"Told you it was just my job." Ratchet said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Don't need thanks for doing my work."

"It was how you went about it that mattered, Ratchet." Thundercracker said, giving Ratchet's shoulder a friendly caress. "I will...take what you have said into consideration." he said, too softly for Skywarp to hear.

"I know you will." Ratchet said simply. "Now get out of my medbay and let me get some real work done, will you?" The medic snorted and turned around just as Jazz and Bumblebee walked into the medbay.

"Here t'pick up a couple'a wandering Seekers, Ratch." Jazz said as a greeting. Ratchet didn't even /look/ at the two Autobots, only jerking a thumb at TC and Skywarp in silence. Jazz gave Ratchet an odd look but motioned for the fliers to come with him.

Skywarp sighed. "Thank Primus we're gettin' away from all this slagging ORANGE." he remarked, his wings twitching in anticipation of flight. Thundercracker merely nodded, curious about Ratchet's reaction to them leaving. He though about it, and realized that he would...miss talking to the medic. Maybe it was the same for Ratchet. TC didn't know for sure.

Skyfire waited outside, as he was to be their transport to the meeting place. Skywarp opened his mouth to say something that would have undoubtedly been incredibly rude, but Thundercracker glared at him, sending a firm denial through the trine bond which actually made Skywarp stop, though he /_did_/ pout a bit over it.

Optimus Prime sat across from Thundercracker, and he gave the blue Seeker a significant look. From all accounts, Thundercracker was /not/ the loyal Decepticon most thought him to be; intel suggested that he was a 'Con only because his trinemates were. He /was/ fiercely devoted to his trine- on the few occasions when he /_had_/ shown proper Decepticon-like violence, it had been the result of someone harming one of his trinemates.

Thundercracker similarly looked at Optimus Prime. Was it true, was /_this_/ Prime was different, despite the fact that he carried all previous Primes within him? Did he honestly care about his mechs' well-being, or were they simply cannon fodder like most of the 'Cons were to Megatron?

Did he abuse his officers just because he could? Did his SIC spend as much time in medbay as in the briefing room?

These questions and more whirled through TC's meta as they finally landed with a gentle '_thunk_'.

Skywarp and Thundercracker were escorted out of Skyfire, though this was largely a formality at this point. Once all his passengers had exited, the shuttleformer transformed as well, his size making him a formidable deterrent all by himself.

Megatron was already there, along with the Conehead trine, Onslaught, and Blast Off. He stood there sneering at his two wayward Seekers, and Skywarp's wingtips drooped just a little at the very obvious displeasure of his commanding officer.

TC didn't really give a damn, if he was being honest with himself.

Jazz took the handcuffs off and then offered each Seeker a code-chip. "This will remove the inhibitor placed upon your flight subroutines." he said solemnly, and both Seekers looked wary enough that their leader just snarled. "Get /_on_/ with it, that's standard procedure!"

They'd never been captured long enough to have this happen, so it was new. TC sent a wordless pulse of reassurance to Skywarp as he inserted the chip, which his antivirus proclaimed was clean and just what Jazz had said it was. His flight controls were green for go, and by the look on Skywarp's face, his were as well.

Prime just looked at the Seekers, always feeling a bit sad at times like these. He wished each time that their prisoners would see that the way that they lived on the Nemesis was wrong, that they'd stay and at least become Neutrals. Without that, there was no chance for Cybertron to become whole again.

Skywarp actually laughed, his thrusters firing already. "Lord Megatron, permission to fly back home?"

Megatron actually seemed to /_think_/ about it, and TC scowled at his commander, determined to fly whether he liked it or not. The silver mech finally nodded, glancing at the other 'Cons.

"Decepticons, to the Nemesis." he said coldly, his optics sliding over the two Elite Trine members in a way that made Thundercracker's tanks roil, even as full as they were.

Skywarp didn't notice. He was far too busy getting himself into the air, and Thundercracker sighed deeply, following him. His ambivalence and worry kept him from enjoying his first flight in five cycles, though, and he worried for what he would find once he stepped into medbay to see Starscream.

He didn't worry for himself, of course.

The flight back was uneventful, and Thundercracker entered the tower ahead of the others. Skywarp was still happily doing loops and twirls in the air, overjoyed to be in the sky and trusting that Thundercracker would check on their trineleader and let Skywarp know what was going on. TC wasn't sure that he wanted Skywarp there, anyway, not with what he feared had happened.

The medbay doors slid open to admit the blue Seeker, and he was greeted by the large and unlovely form of Mixmaster rising to block his path.

"You broken? No? Then get the frag out." the Constructicon spat.

"Frag off." Thundercracker advised. "My trineleader is in there and I am /_going_/ to see him." His tone indicated that 'no' was not an acceptable answer.

"No visitors. That comes from higher up than you, ya know." Mixmaster said, smiling gleefully.

"I don't particularly care." The Seeker's deep voice was soft, but inside he felt a bit of desperation well up. "Do you like your audials and your plating?"

"Huh? What kind of question is /_that_/?"

Thundercracker continued in that same silky voice. "You like to experiment, I hear. How about /_I_/ experiment for a bit and see what my sonics can do to an obstinate Constructicon in an enclosed area." His expression was flat and his optics cold. Mixmaster saw this and took a step back; he'd seen the results of seriously torquing Thundercracker off, and it /_wasn't_/ pretty.

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good." he said weakly.

"Then /_**get the slag out of my way**_/."

Mixmaster hurriedly stepped aside, but he sent a warning through the gestalt bond to Hook. He wasn't gonna be happy about this, not one bit. Hook sent back a /_very_/ irritated pulse that warred with the arousal he was feeling; the crane was interfacing with Bonecrusher and wasn't planning on stopping. What could Thundercracker do in a joor with a stasis-locked Seeker?

Mixmaster shrugged and went back to the television set he'd set up in the far corner of the hangar-bay; he'd done his duty, and frag if he was going to include getting sonic blasted on his to-do list.

Thundercracker approached the berth that had been placed against the far wall, away from the entrance. At least Hook had done that much, TC reflected...and then he got a good look at exactly what had happened to Starscream. His jaw dropped as he cataloged each and every dent, every scratch and scrape, everything that marred the once-beautiful plating that Thundercracker loved to touch.

He looked almost dead, and if not for the feeling of him in Thundercracker's spark, he would think that he was just by the look of him. Starscream was in sorry shape, and Thundercracker's temper flared even /_more_/ when he realized that no one had even bothered to clean the Air Commander up. He was still covered in Motormaster's transfluid. Thunderracker's hand shook as he unsubspaced a cloth that had been soaked in solvent, and it shook even more as he began to gently clean this evidence of the assault from his trinemate...his /_bondmates's_/ plating.

He didn't even care who was listening. "He's going to pay, Star." TC whispered, wiping gently around a gouge that went almost as deep as the protoform. "Killing is too good for him. I can't believe...Star..." He forced himself to keep control of his emotions, because he knew he /_wasn't_/ alone in here. Others would notice his care and remark about it, but that could be explained away. If he were weak enough to show too much, though... The threats were expected. The desire for revenge encouraged. The love?

That was to be cast out at all costs.

Thundercracker refused to do that, and it was then that he knew what he had to do. He took a shuddering breath as he gazed down at the slack face of his trineleader, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. No one was, as far as TC could see, so he ran his hand down the undented side of Starscream's dark face, the tenderness in the gesture unmistakeable. "I will help you, Star, I swear this on my spark." he said softly, and then he was shocked as another voice followed his own. A visor gleamed in the dim light, and Thundercracker squinted, trying to see who it was.

"I'm going to help Star too." the mech said.


	8. Chapter 8

_Here is the next installment of Trine, just finished a few moments ago. Hope you all like it! Though this one has a bit of song attached to it...it just feels so appropriate to this chapter and the situations in general._

_Who's gonna fight for what's right?_  
_Who's gonna help us survive?_  
_We're in the fight of our lives_  
_And we're not ready to die_

_Who's gonna fight for the weak?_  
_Who's gonna make 'em believe?_  
_I've got a hero, I've got a hero_  
_Living in me_

_I'm gonna fight for what's right_  
_Today I'm speaking my mind_  
_And if it kills me tonight_  
_I will be ready to die_

_A hero's not afraid to give his life_  
_A hero's gonna save me just in time_

_-Hero, Skillet_

_Warnings for this chapter- language, discussions of noncon, slash obviously, violence_

_Pairings: The usual_

_Disclaimer- Ain't mine._

_Shoutout to Jarakrisafis for her assistance in Things Skywarp Thinks About, and for Katea-Nui for insights on Dead End's personality. Thank you bbys!_

* * *

"Show yourself." Thundercracker demanded, his wings hiked high in distress and shock. He'd just /_looked_/ and no one had been there! The figure stepped more fully into the light and Thundercracker couldn't help but stare, his jaw dropping as he realized the implications.

"Close your mouth." Dead End said morosely. "If you don't, a scraplet or something might take it as an invitation to make your frame its home and you'll die horribly." The mech shrugged. "We're all doomed anyway, but I personally would prefer a more...dignified end." The blue Seeker closed his mouth, giving Dead End an extremely odd look.

"Why are you-" Thundercracker began to ask, and Dead End slashed his finger across his throat, pointing to Mixmaster, who wasn't paying attention. TC lowered his voice. "Why are you /_helping_/ me...helping /_him_/? You hate Starscream!"

Dead End's visor flashed as he paused, formulating an answer. "Because nobody deserves that." he said finally. "You get the Air Commander; I have the idiot." The Porche silently walked into the larger main area of medbay, intent on something that Thundercracker wasn't sure of. The Seeker knew one thing, though- it would be infinitely easier to get Starscream off the Nemesis if he had aid, rather than alone.

It was sad that he wasn't certain that Skywarp would help, not in this.

Dead End got behind Mixmaster and balled up both his hands, hitting the mech at the juncture of his shoulder and neck. It did the trick- the larger mech fell over, optics darkened, and the visored mech gave Thundercracker a triumphant look from behind his violet visor, the light brightening with some emotion that wasn't particularly clear to the Seeker.

He didn't really /_care_/ what Dead End was feeling, if he were being totally honest with himself; he just wanted to get Starscream off this ship before anyone discovered what he was doing. He looked down at the soon to be former SIC and sighed; there was no way to pick him up without causing pain. Thundercracker murmured an apology before picking Starscream up in a bridal-style hold, and the dark-faced Seeker moaned in pain even in his offline state.

"Star, stay with me." TC said softly. Dead End wiped his hands off as if he'd touched something disgusting before jerking his helm toward the door. "I'll look first, see who's comin'. Security cameras are your job though, I can't do slag about that. They don't put us on the command deck." Thundercracker knew why, too- the Stunticons, to a mech, were far to erratic to be trusted with even monitor duty.

The blue Seeker cursed loudly, startling the Porche for an instant. The cameras. He'd /_forgotten_/ that little detail. There was one even here, recording everything that had went on...yet no one had come. No grouping of mechs came to stop Thundercracker...which meant that Megatron didn't yet know. He'd had to have returned already; Thundercracker hadn't flown that far ahead. Soundwave was still onboard as well.

Thundercracker then received a comm, and his spark whirled when he realized who it had came from.

_/Thrust to Wingsecond Thundercracker. Do not respond. Security cameras manned by my trinemates. So do what you gotta do. Just fragging hurry, Ramjet can't keep that slagging telepath busy all day. Thrust out./_

Thundercracker's lips turned up in a slight smile. They were doing what they could, even if they didn't believe in it. Thundercracker wasn't sure that they'd be helping to this extent if they actually knew where he was planning on taking Starscream, but that was just fine with Thundercracker. He wasn't telling anyone. Maybe not even Skywarp, if Skywarp even came across them.

He thought about his flighty trinemate for a moment as he walked through the halls, escorted by an increasingly nervous Dead End. The Stunticon had already had to threaten several mechs from walking down TC's path, and his resolve, never strong to begin with, was wearing thin. Skywarp was younger than either TC or Starscream, and he was far more loyal to Lord Megatron than they were as well. He believed that Star /_invited_/ the beatings, and that if he'd only stop trying to take over that they would stop. He didn't know the rest or even believe that Megatron /_wanted_/ Star that way. It had never occurred to him that Starscream was shielding him to protect his trine, either, which showed that Star had done too well a job.

What would Skywarp do if he saw Thundercracker and Starscream now?

The blue Seeker didn't know, but he hadn't run across his trinemate yet either. Neither had Dead End, and they were now at the tower controls. Dirge was also there, and he took one look at Starscream and almost purged. With shaking hands, he activated the airlock and raised the tower so that they could get free.

'Wingsecond, I..." Dirge said, clearly uncomfortable.

"You know nothing. It is safer that way." Thundercracker said. "That is an order." The Conehead nodded somewhat gratefully; that wouldn't save him /_all_/ the punishment but it could help some. He turned to Dead End, who looked as though he wanted to forget this had ever happened. "Dead End, I-"

"I know, you'll scrap me if I tell anyone how you forced me to help you on pain of deactivation. I don't know why I listened, because we're all doomed anyway, but I guess I didn't want to deactivate in a pool of my own purged energon." Dead End said, his optics bright behind the visor. Thundercracker's optics widened and he just nodded, shifting Starscream in preparation for flight. He'd have to be careful, flying with him like this. He wasn't going to cheapen what Dead End had done with words; he'd leave it at that.

The blue Seeker gave one last look at Dirge and Dead End before taking flight, Starscream securely in his arms.

The tower lowered behind him and Thundercracker allowed himself a sigh of relief; no one had followed. Yet.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Skywarp was happier than Pit to be OUT of that slagging medbay, with those slagging Autodorks. The sky felt GOOD...but where the frag was TC at? He did a triple-loop, feeling as though he could stay out here for joors...which he likely could, due to the energon that the medic...Hatchet, whatever it was, had given them just before their release. Skywarp was pretty happy about that too, though TC of course had gotten all prissy and thanked the groundpounder for that, and then whispered something to him after. Warp supposed that that was because they'd 'faced; maybe TC wanted a round two later on sometime. Skywarp supposed that he wouldn't mind too much if his trinemate did- 'facing was only 'facing, and from the sounds of it TC had enjoyed himself. Even if it /_had_/ been with a grounder and Autobot.

Skywarp considered all this as well as the probable vectors of three separate warp jumps; how much adhesive it would take to glue Long Haul's pedes to the floor for exactly two joors; how much high grade it might take to get TC to lighten up a little (calculations on this were ongoing; Warp had never come up with a definitive answer); what would happen if he repainted the Nemesis and if so, what color would look best; how hard it would be to set up a high grade distillery without getting A) caught or B) blowing himself up; and of course who was he gonna find as his next berth partner because it sure as frag wasn't gonna be his pole-up-aft trinemates.

Then he felt the tug on his trine bond and saw TC carrying the Screamer and he frowned. What the /_frag_/ was he /_doing_/?

He sped up and caught up, which wasn't hard; Thundercracker was flying more slowly than usual because of his burden. Thundercracker looked straight ahead, not even seeming to /_notice_/ Skywarp and Skywarp scowled; what the frag was he doing, ignoring him that way! They were /_trine_/!

"TeeCee, what in the name of Primus are you doing?!" he said, the wind not much of a hindrance to his voice as high up as they were flying.

"I am taking Starscream somewhere." Thundercracker's tone was cold, even icy. Warp frowned again. Didn't he /_trust_/ Skywarp anymore? He got a better look at Starscream and he gasped, coming closer, almost close enough to touch. "WHAT THE SLAG HAPPENED TO HIM?" Warp cried, and it was then that he saw the half-dead, half-devastated look on his trinemate's face.

"Megatron had him punished, but it wasn't just a beating." Thundercracker said from behind clenched denta. "I don't even know what he did- presumably it was because he /_allowed_/ us to get captured." Skywarp opened his mouth, but Thundercracker's optics blazed hotly enough to silence him. "Megatron didn't do it with his own hand- Motormaster did. At Megatron's behest. He was violated, Skywarp."

Skywarp stared. "No way." At first, Thundercracker thought that he was saying it in disbelief, but his next words belied the statement. "No, he wouldn't do that, TC. Star must have started running his mouth or tried to shoot him again, and he just slagged him like normal. He wouldn't do that. No slaggin' way."

Thundercracker would have whirled him midair if he could. "Skywarp, the evidence is right in front of you. Starscream. Was. Raped. Taken and raped and tormented while that-that /_tyrant_/, that /_madmech_/ watched! There were /_witnesses_/!" The wave of anger he shoved toward Skywarp was genuine and hot and harder than any emotion he'd ever pushed though the bond, even his caring- he was that angry and that affected.

"I don't believe it, Thundercracker. Lord Megatron wouldn't /do/ that." Skywarp said, and his own optics blazed with disbelief and anger.

"Starscream would tell you if he could. He can't. He's offline and may not even /_come_/ back online, and do you even care? NO! You believe in that fragging...that /_fucking bastard_/ back on that ship! Fine! Believe in him instead of in your trineleader who has /_protected_/ you from a fate very like this one, and go back to him! We will be trine no more, Skywarp. I'll dissolve the bond once Starscream is able, if he ever is." Thundercracker shook in the sky- the sky where he held Starscream, limp and unresponsive. He didn't allow Skywarp to respond- he was far too angry to hear another word from him, and he sped up, flying toward the only place of safety that he knew of.

Toward Ratchet and his offer. Toward the Autobots.

Skywarp stared, unable to process Thundercracker's words. He wouldn't dissolve their trine bond,he was taking Star somewhere to heal, that's all. He wouldn't tear apart something older than the civilization on this mudball they were stuck on over /_this_/. He wouldn't.

He kept telling himself that as he flew back to the Nemesis, feeling uneasy despite the reassurances his own mind gave him.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Sir, there's a comm coming in, Decepticon in origin." Perceptor said to Jazz, who frowned slightly and nodded to the scientist manning the comms. "Patch it in."

_/I need Ratchet./_ the voice said, and Jazz stared at the speaker, shocked at who he knew it had to be. Tones and even voices were something Jazz didn't forget easily, and he'd just heard this one not four joor before, when he led the Seekers back to meet with Megatron at the salt flats. "That Thundercracker?" he asked Perceptor, who worked at getting a visual of the outside airspace around the Ark.

"Yes, but he's carrying something...some/_one_/. I believe that is /_Starscream_/ in his arms." Perceptor said, clearly mystified.

Jazz frowned deeply. "Th' pit is that Seeker doing...? Decepticon, slow your decent and identify yourself and yer purpose." Jazz commed to Thundercracker, who indeed slowed down, hovering somewhat clumsily with his burden.

"My designation is Thundercracker, and I am likely no longer welcome with the Decepticons. I wish to speak to Ratchet." the Seeker said firmly.

Jazz shrugged and pinged medbay. "Ratch, I got a visitor outside who wants t'talk t'you."

The medic looked up sharply. "I'll be right there." He put down the datapad he was working with and hurried to the command center, his optics widening when he saw just who was hovering outside the Ark. Without bothering to ask Perceptor or Jazz what was going on, he contacted Thundercracker.

"Thundercracker, is this what I think it is?"

The blue Seeker responded. "Ratchet, I...Starscream..."

The medic could hear the sheer tiredness in the deep voice and he glared at the rest of the command staff. "Let him in."

"WHAT?!" Jazz said, incredulously.

"I didn't stutter, Jazz. Let. Him. In. He isn't going to cause trouble. He's going straight to medbay."

"He's a slagging /_Con_/, Ratch-"

"Not anymore, if I read him right." He pressed the comm button. "Thundercracker, approach. I'll have someone escort you to medbay." Ratchet eyed everyone, almost daring them to speak. "I think I'll go meet him, in fact." He walked off the command deck without so much as a goodbye, leaving several very stunned and confused Autobots in his wake. Perceptor just looked at Jazz, who stared back.

"Guess I'd better at least tell Prime we're gonna have a couple'a Cons in the medbay /_again_/."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Skywarp entered the tower, still feeling rather uneasy about his confrontation with Thundercracker. Stars sure had looked awfully bad...but did he really have to /_take_/ him someplace? Wouldn't the best place for him be medbay where Hook could work on him? Skywarp didn't know slag-all about medical matters- Stars had always made sure he got fixed, either by shoving him into medbay or fixing it himself. This just didn't make any SENSE, even to Skywarp's convoluted processing...and oh slag who was going to fix his warp gate? Skywarp stopped dead in the middle of the hallway as he contemplated that for a few moments. He was nothing without it- even his DESIGNATION said so!

He stared at nothing for awhile longer until a loud series of noises broke his reverie, and suddenly he was slammed against the wall by his neck, gasping and flailing about before he recalled that no, he COULD NOT warp out of this one...and when he saw who it was, he was grateful that he didn't.

Megatron snarled, his face mere inches from Skywarp's, "WHERE IN THE SLAG ARE YOUR WINGMATES?"

"Uhh...Lord Megatron...I have no-"

"Liar!" He punched the Seeker in the face, hard, and Skywarp stiffened in pain. It was to his credit that he didn't cry out, because he /_wasn't_/ used to this treatment in the least. He still tried to explain, to reassure...even if it was a lie. "Lord Megatron, I just got back! I haven't seen either of them!" He shivered as the blazing red optics seared through him, and something in his expression must have convinced the tyrant because he dropped Skywarp to the floor in a heap.

"If you see Thundercracker, tell him... Tell him that I wish to /_speak_/ with him." Megatron's smile was far from reassuring.

_I just /bet/ you do. _Skywarp thought uncharitably. He knew /_exactly_/ what was going on, but slag if he was going to squeal on his trine. "Yes, my lord." is what he said, though, carefully picking himself off the floor.

"You are the only Seeker remaining who is loyal." the Slagmaker said offhandedly, and Skywarp just stared. "I...uh..."

"The Coneheads helped him, you know. And they're paying for it even now. How would you like to be Air Commander, Skywarp? Would you like that?" His tone was almost gentle, and Skywarp resisted the urge to get away. He had never wanted to be able to teleport more in his life than he did now. Air Commander? Fragging pits, he could barely /_take_/ orders let alone give them! Still, one did NOT refuse such a thing from Megatron lest he wonder why. "I, um, could give it my best shot." he replied after it became clear that Megatron was waiting on an answer.

"Good, good. Your trinemates are traitors, you know. A /_good and loyal_/ Air Commander will root out such and report it to his superiors." Skywarp would have to be as stupid as people thought he was not to understand THAT, and he merely nodded. Traitors? Well, he guessed that Starscream maybe was, he kept trying to kill Megatron off after all, but not Thundercracker...he was quiet and didn't care.

The trine bond was still there and Starscream was still alive. This he knew. He still wasn't going to tell Megatron. "I...I understand, sir." he did say, his wings twitching as the emotions ran over him. It was a good thing Soundwave stayed out of his mind, he thought, because otherwise he'd be fragged twice and buried.

"Air Commander Skywarp, your Seekers are in medbay and likely will be there for the next few cycles. Consult with the triplechangers on battle strategy." Megatron ordered, and Skywarp stiffened and thought that he just might be fragged anyway. "Yes, Lord Megatron." he said, knowing that this was going to be a Pit of a lot harder than it looked.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Ratchet made it to the Ark's entrance before Thundercracker landed, and he stared at both Seekers as he got his first glance at Starscream's injuries. "What in the name of Primus-"

"Ratchet, I will explain, but please...he's in a great deal of pain." Thundercracker said softly, and the medic nodded once before blaring on his comms. "Out of the way, medical emergency! First Aid, I-"

Thundercracker called out, "Please. No. Just you." His tone was desperate.

Ratchet muttered a curse and told First Aid to stand by. "Why?"

"I...don't want everyone seeing him like this." TC admitted.

Ratchet seemed to consider that, and something within him must have agreed for he commed First Aid back and informed him to handle all nonemergent calls until told otherwise. The Protectobot agreed, though the questions were in his voice, as they hurried toward Ratchet's domain rather silently.

Once they arrived and Thundercracker had laid Starscream on a berth, Ratchet hooked him up to an intensive scanner and began cataloging his injuries. His frown grew more and more as the readings flowed across the screen, and as soon as Ratchet had hooked him up to a mild painkiller drip he rounded on Thundercracker.

"He was tortured, or something close to it." Ratchet said flatly, and the anger was plain in both his tone and his expression.

"He was taken against his will at Megatron's command." Thundercracker corrected. "By a sadist."

"Who, so I know who to shoot first?" The medic /_wasn't_/ joking.

"Motormaster." the Seeker replied, feeling exhausted after carrying them both here. "May I stay under the same strictures as before-"

"You may stay under different ones." Ratchet said. "You /_are_/ here to stay?"

Thundercracker paused. Thought about Skywarp, left on the Nemesis. Then he looked at Starscream on the berth.

"Yes. I am here to stay."


End file.
